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Several allies to the U.S. have rebuffed President Donald Trump’s demands and threats this weekend for countries to aid in opening transit through the Strait of Hormuz, as oil prices spike in the third week of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran.
As of Monday morning in the U.S., no countries had committed to aiding in Trump’s plan to form a naval coalition for access to the strait as Iranian forces attack ships attempting to cross it.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said that countries are forming a coalition to open the strait. He asked allies to join him in the mission of aiding travel through the waterway.
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated,” Trump wrote.
“We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are,” he went on, clearly contradicting himself.
Australia has said that they don’t plan to send ships for the effort. China has not commented on Trump’s demands, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson reiterating the country’s call for all parties to end its military operations.
Japan and South Korea have said that they are considering the request, but have not committed; the issue will likely be a topic of discussion during Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s White House visit on Thursday.
European countries have also demurred. On Monday, Germany said that they would back sanctions efforts against those blocking the strait, but declined direct military involvement, saying: “As long as this war continues, there will be no participation, not even in any effort to keep the Strait of Hormuz open by military means.”
Greece also declined to participate in any military operations in the strait. The U.K., Italy, and Luxembourg expressed an opposition to direct military involvement, saying that they prefer diplomatic solutions. The U.K. “will not be drawn into the wider war,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters on Monday.
France declined to send ships on Thursday, even before Trump’s requests. “I’m very clear and firm on this topic; at this point, there is no question of sending any vessels to the strait of Hormuz,” said French Minister of Defense Catherine Vautrin. However, France said last week that it is deploying roughly a dozen naval vessels to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea amid the escalation.
The European Union’s top foreign policy official, Kaja Kallas, has advocated for a diplomatic response. She said that she spoke with UN Secretary-General António Guterres over the weekend about replicating the UN’s Black Sea initiative for the safe export of grain, fertilizer, and other goods from Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
Iran offered last week to allow countries passage through Hormuz if they expelled ambassadors for the U.S. and Israel from their countries.
The cool response from the international community to Trump’s demands comes despite the president openly threatening countries if they don’t comply. In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said: “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”
The Trump administration has still refused to give a definitive timeline for the end of its bombardments, with Trump saying last week that the war will end “when I feel it … in my bones.” Iran is unlikely to reopen the strait, which is one of its biggest points of leverage, until at least the end of the U.S.-Israeli bombardments, which health officials report have killed over 1,200 civilians so far.
The war and closure of the strait, which is entering its third week, is roiling global oil prices and causing a major fertilizer shortage that is threatening U.S. agriculture at a crucial time for planting.
On Monday, gas prices continued to rise, hitting an average of $3.72 a gallon — the highest price since October 7, 2023. Prices could hit new highs if the war continues, former White House energy adviser Bob McNally said in an interview on “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.
“If we don’t open up Hormuz soon, I can see us making new records,” said McNally, who was an energy adviser during President George W. Bush’s first term in office.
Trump has fixated on oil prices, first saying that his administration has lowered gas prices, and now claiming that higher oil prices are actually good for the U.S. amid a nationwide affordability crisis. Last week, the Trump administration began to tap into the U.S.’s strategic oil reserves in an attempt to stymie price rises. His administration has also invoked the Defense Production Act to increase oil and gas development, including the reopening of a California pipeline responsible for a major oil spill in 2015.
McNally said, however, that no policy other than opening the strait could stop the oil price spikes and supply chain disruptions.
“I’ve worked in the White House during an energy crisis. There are no policy solutions to a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” McNally said. “You open up the toolkit, and the tools in there, the options range from marginal, through symbolic, to deeply unwise. Escorts are a sideshow, strategic stock releases are a sideshow…. Gas tax holiday, sideshow. You gotta restore the flow of the Strait of Hormuz.”
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