After the UK, Germany, France and Italy, along with Australia and Japan, turned down US President Donald Trump's requests to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, the US president expressed dissatisfaction over the decision.
Trump, who has been pressing allies to help safeguard the critical waterway, fumed that the US is not getting support "despite the fact that almost every country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot" be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.
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“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our military operation against the terrorist regime of Iran in the Middle East, despite the fact that almost every country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in a social media post, adding, "I am not surprised by their actions, however, because I have always considered NATO, where we spend hundreds of billions of dollars per year protecting these same countries, to be a one-way street—we will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, particularly in a time of need.”
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
A handful of ships have crossed through the strait, and Iran has said the vital waterway technically remains open—just not for the United States, Israel and their allies. About 20 vessels have been struck since the war began.
With oil prices rising, Trump said he had demanded that roughly half a dozen countries send warships to ensure ships can pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
But his appeals brought no immediate commitments, with many saying they are hesitant to get involved in a war with no defined exit plan and are sceptical that they could do more than the US Navy.
—With agency inputs