President Donald Trump, seen in this undated photo, on Sunday called on NATO to help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key Middle East waterway. NATO has not yet commented publicly on Trump’s call for action. (The White House)
President Donald Trump is demanding NATO involvement in opening the Strait of Hormuz, saying the alliance’s future could hinge on its actions regarding a vital Middle East chokepoint that Iran closed in retaliation for American and Israeli attacks.
In an interview Sunday with the Financial Times, Trump described the issue as a litmus test for the reliability of the alliance.
“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO,” he said.
When asked what specifically he was looking for from NATO, Trump said “whatever it takes,” including minesweepers and “people who are going to knock out some bad actors that are along the (Iranian) shore.”
Trump also called on China to give support as oil prices continue to rise in the wake of Iran shutting traffic through a waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil travels.
A frequent critic of NATO, Trump additionally linked the situation in Iran to U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“We’ve been very sweet,” Trump said. “We didn’t have to help (the Europeans) with Ukraine. Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us ... but we helped them. Now we’ll see if they help us because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them, but they won’t be there for us.”
The Strait of Hormuz is shown in this undated satellite image. In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, President Donald Trump called on NATO to help the U.S. reopen the vital shipping chokepoint. (NASA)
NATO has not yet commented publicly on Trump’s call for action from the alliance. However, the alliance’s top official, Secretary-General Mark Rutte, earlier this month said the alliance was “not involved” in the military operations.
“But I can assure you that NATO will defend every inch of NATO territory,” he said during a March 3 stop in North Macedonia.
Since then, NATO has bolstered air defenses in member state Turkey to protect it against Iranian missile launches directed at the country.
Since the Feb. 28 start of the U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign in Iran, European reactions to the mission have varied.
For example, Spain has been critical of the effort and refused to allow its bases to be used as launching pads for the operation.
Other allies have sent mixed signals. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the start of the campaign signaled support for the U.S-led effort, saying he was “on the same page” with Trump.
Pentagon installations in Germany such as Ramstein Air Base have seen an uptick in military air traffic related to the war.
But during a visit to Norway on Friday, Merz said he was concerned about economic upheaval the longer the crisis drags on.
“It is having a massive impact on our energy costs, and it has the potential to trigger large-scale migration,” Merz said.
Meanwhile, Trump on Sunday spoke with Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer, whom he has criticized for what Trump considers insufficient support for the U.S. effort.
“The U.K. might be considered the number one ally, the longest-serving, etc., and when I asked for them to come, they didn’t want to come,” Trump told the Financial Times. “And as soon as we basically wiped out the danger capacity from Iran, they said, ‘Oh, well we’ll send two ships’, and I said, ‘We need these ships before we win, not after we win’. I’ve long said that NATO is a one-way street.”
