Trump side-stepped diplomacy on way to war in Iran. Now, he wants all to help

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump relied on his gut and largely side-stepped diplomatic coordination as he made the decision to launch strikes on Iran with Israel. But now with the war’s economic and geopolitical consequences unfurling rapidly, he’s cajoling allies and other global powers to help mop up the mess.

Trump says he’s asked roughly a half-dozen other countries to send warships to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz. So far, none have committed. Trump even indicated he would use his long-planned trip to China to pressure Beijing to help with a new coalition meant to get oil tanker traffic moving through the strait — a notion that his treasury secretary later downplayed.




“We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the strait far more than ours ... we want them to come and help us with the strait,” Trump said at the White House on Monday, listing Japan, China, South Korea and several countries in Europe as examples. Trump has argued that the shipping channel is not something the US needs because of its own access to oil.

It’s the type of bullying to action that has secured key foreign policy wins for the Republican president in his second term, like prompting nearly all Nato countries to up their defence spending last year after he spent years accusing allies of freeloading off American largess, and using tariffs to extract investments and concessions from trade partners.

With oil prices soaring and West Asia rattled by violence, there’s little inclination from other countries to heed Trump’s call. China is noncommittal. France is a maybe on escorting ships, when “circumstances permit.” Britain is unlikely to dispatch a warship.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday said the conflict cannot be resolved through military means and stressed that only a political solution can bring lasting stability. “Bombing it into submission is, in all likelihood, not the right approach,” to creating a democratic govt in Iran, he said. Responding to Trump’s calls to send warships, Merz said, “Nato is a defensive alliance, not an interventionist one.”

In Trump’s view, this lack of appetite for helping to secure the strait confirms his suspicions about the benefits of working with other countries, because “if we ever needed help, they won’t be there for us.” “I’ve always felt that was a weakness of Nato,” Trump said Monday. “We were going to protect them, but I always said when in need, they won’t protect us.”

Yet not long after, Trump insisted the US didn’t need help from anybody because “we’re the strongest nation in the world.” Nonetheless, the pressure campaign from the White House is continuing.

On Sunday, Trump had said that Nato faces a “very bad” future if US allies fail to help open the Strait of Hormuz. In a brief interview with the Financial Times, Trump said that as the US has aided Ukraine in the war with Russia, he expects Europe to help on the Strait of Hormuz. “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of Nato,” said Trump. Asked about specific help he was looking for, Trump told the FT he wanted minesweepers as well as “people who are going to knock out some bad actors that are along the (Iranian) shore.”

Separately, Trump signalled in the interview with the Financial Times “we’d like to know” before he leaves for a late-March summit in Beijing whether China will help secure the strait because of its reliance on Middle Eastern oil, adding: “We may delay.” Yet calling off the face-to-face visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping could have its own major economic consequences. In a CNBC interview Monday, treasury secretary Scott Bessent said any delay would not be due to disputes over the strait and explicitly urged investors not to react negatively should Trump put off his trip. “If the meeting for some reason is rescheduled, it would be rescheduled because of logistics,” Bessent said from Paris, where he was meeting with Chinese vice premier He Lifeng for trade talks meant to pave the way for the trip.

IRGC threaten to hit US cos in region

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened on Monday to target US companies across the region. “Employees of American companies... are requested to leave these areas immediately. These areas will soon be targeted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” said the Guards in on their official Sepah News website. The Tasnim news agency last week published a list of potential targets on Telegram that included the offices of Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia in Gulf countries.

Have plans for next 3 weeks in Iran: Israel

Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters on Monday that there were detailed operational plans for the next three weeks in Iran, and other plans extending further. Israel has said it wants to weaken Iran’s capacity to threaten it by striking itssecurity apparatus. “We want to make sure that they are as weak as possible, this regime, and that we degrade all their capabilities, all parts of their security establishment,” Shoshani said.


'This is not our war': US allies put it straight

Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage of water between Iran and Oman, choking off a fifth of global oil supply in the biggest disruption ever. Trump has said that the US is negotiating with countries heavily reliant on West Asia crude to join a coalition to police the waterway. How some of them have responded:



JAPAN | PM Sanae Takaichi says no plans to dispatch naval vessels to strait to escort ships. The PM will travel to Washington this week for talks with Trump

AUSTRALIA | Transport minister Catherine King says won't send naval ships as she was not aware of Australia receiving such a request

SOUTH KOREA | Presidential office says they are reviewing the request. Under South Korea's constitution, overseas troop deployments require parliamentary approval

BRITAIN | PM Keir Starmer says the UK would not be 'drawn into the wider Iran war', but reiterates he is working with allies to reopen the Strait

EUROPEAN UNION | Foreign ministers to meet Monday to discuss bolstering a small naval mission to West Asia, but are not expected to discuss expanding its role to include the choked-off Strait

GERMANY | Defence minister Boris Pistorius says Germany would not participate with its military in securing the Strait. 'What does (...) Donald Trump expect a handful or two handfuls of European frigates to do in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful US navy cannot do? This is not our war, we have not started it'

DENMARK | Foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen says it would be wise to keep an open mind to this question

ITALY | Foreign minister Antonio Tajani says there are no naval missions Italy is involved in that can be extended to the area

GREECE | Govt spokesperson says Greece will not engage in military operations in the Strait

(With inputs from agencies)