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'Maybe we shouldn't be there at all': Trump walks back further on Hormuz Strait as US call for help gets cold responses
Trump earlier said US negotiating with countries to together police the waterway through which about a fifth the world’s traded oil normally flows.
After days of claiming to “secure” the Strait of Hormuz, then asking for help from other countries and getting none, US President Donald Trump has now said that “maybe we (US) shouldn't be there at all”.
“I am demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their territory... they should help us,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night (US time), apparently using ‘territory’ to mean area of interest. "You could make the case that maybe we shouldn't be there at all, because we don't need it. We have a lot of oil," he argued.
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This came after he said he has demanded that at least seven countries — he did not name them — send warships to keep the key waterway for oil and gas transport open as Iranian strikes continue to rain down on Gulf countries and the wider region.
Also read | Trump's not-so-straight claims on Hormuz Strait: What President's Truth Social reveals
Snaps at reporter
On his reported plans to send 5,000 elite troops from the US Marines to the region, and possibility of going beyond airstrikes and onto the ground, he responded to a question with a remark at the reporter instead. “You are a very, very obnoxious person,” he said to the unseen person who asked the question from behind the camera.
Trump earlier said the US is negotiating with countries heavily reliant on Middle East (or West Asia) crude to join a coalition to police the waterway through which about a fifth the world’s traded oil normally flows, but declined to name them. He had mentioned five — China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK — expressly in a social media post on March 14.
But his demands appeared to have fallen on deaf ears as allies Japan and Australia said they were not planning to send navy vessels.
What allies said on sending help, or not
Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi, a staunch Trump supporter, said on Monday her country, constrained by a constitution that officially renounces war, has no plan to dispatch vessels to escort ships in the region, from where it gets 95% of its oil. "We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework," Takaichi told the parliament.
In Australia, Catherine King, a member of PM Anthony Albanese's cabinet, told state broadcaster ABC, "We know how incredibly important that is, but that's not something that we've been asked or that we're contributing to."
Also read | US energy secretary hints at seeking India's help on Strait of Hormuz
China visit to be postponed; EU cagey too
The situation has an extra dimension when it comes to China, as Trump was supposed to be visiting the rival superpower to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of March.
“I think China should help (in the strait) too, because China gets 90% of its oil (from it),” Trump said on Monday.
“We may delay," he said in reference to his visit if China did not offer support in the Gulf. The Chinese administration has not reacted.
Trump also heightened pressure on America's European allies to help protect the strait, warning that NATO faces a “very bad” future if its members fail to come to Washington’s aid.
European Union foreign ministers were to discuss later on Monday whether to bolster their small naval mission in the region, but not expected to decide on extending its role to the Strait of Hormuz as such, diplomats and officials told news agency Retuers.
British PM Keir Starmer has discussed the need to reopen the strait with Trump, and with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. South Korea has said it would carefully review Trump's request.
At the heart of this, is oil. The UN climate secretary used the moment to make a larger point. "Fossil fuel dependency is ripping away national security and sovereignty, and replacing it with subservience and rising costs," Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN climate change arm, said.
Although some Iranian vessels have continued to pass and a few ships from other countries have successfully made the crossing, the passage has been effectively closed for most of the world's tanker traffic since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
US ally Israel continued to launch strikes on Iran as well as Lebanon and Gaza, targeting militants from the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Hamas. The Israeli military said on Monday its troops had begun limited ground operations against positions in southern Lebanon held by Hezbollah.
Despite repeated claims from US authorities to have destroyed Iran's military capabilities, drone attacks continued to threaten its allied Gulf states on Monday.
Dubai authorities said they had contained a fire but temporarily suspended flights at the airport after a drone attack hit a fuel tank. Saudi Arabia intercepted 34 drones in its eastern region in one hour, state media said.
US had predicted on Sunday that the war on Iran would end “within weeks”, and that a much-desired drop in energy costs would follow. Iran asserts it remains "stable and strong" and ready to defend itself “for as long as it takes”.
“We have never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiations," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday night.
