No one responded to Trump's call to help unblock Hormuz. What the media is writing
US President Donald Trump has called on other countries to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which was blocked by Iran during the conflict in the Middle East. He appealed to both the allies and China, but no country has yet agreed. Trump warned that if refused, he would put pressure on NATO. How the world's media react to the attempt to create the "Hormuz coalition" is in the Izvestia digest.
Financial Times: Trump says NATO has a "bad future" due to the situation with Iran
Trump warned that NATO faces a "very bad" future if US allies do not help open the Strait of Hormuz blocked by Iran. Thus, he made it clear to European countries that they should join his military actions in the Middle East. The statement came a day after he called on China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom to join a "joint effort" to eliminate the blockage of the "bottleneck" through which a fifth of the world's oil flows.
Financial Times
"It is logical that the countries that benefit from the existence of the strait will make sure that nothing bad happens there," Trump said, noting that Europe and China are heavily dependent on oil from the Persian Gulf, unlike the United States. "If there is no response or it is negative, I think it will have a very bad effect on the future of NATO," he added.
Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz after the United States and Israel went to war more than two weeks ago, raising fears of a new spike in oil prices. U.S. attempts to open the strait have mostly failed. When asked to clarify exactly what kind of help he needs, Trump replied: "Any one." He added that the allies should send minesweepers, which Europe has much more than the United States. Trump also hinted that he needs European special forces or other military assistance to eliminate Iranians who are "causing inconvenience" in the Persian Gulf with the help of drones and naval mines.
Axios: Trump is considering the creation of the "Hormuz coalition"
According to four sources, Trump is working to form a coalition of countries to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and hopes to announce this later this week. Trump is also considering seizing Iran's most important oil storage facility on Kharg Island — a move that would require the presence of American troops on Iranian territory — if tankers remain blocked in the Persian Gulf.
Axios
Iran is blocking oil exports from the Persian Gulf countries, while allowing tankers taking Iranian oil to pass unhindered, thereby ensuring uninterrupted supplies of its own oil to China and other countries. As long as the blockade continues and oil supplies from the Gulf of Mexico are limited, Trump would not be able to end the war even if he wanted to, a source familiar with the situation said.
Trump said that the United States is negotiating with seven countries, and mentioned that some of them have already refused, while stressing that the mission "will be small" because Iran "has very little firepower left." On March 15, Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the issue, a notable reversal in his statements after Trump said a few days earlier that it was "too late" for Britain to help. So far, no country has publicly declared its support.
Associated Press: Trump hints at the possibility of postponing a trip to China
Trump is hinting at the possibility of postponing his long-awaited visit to China at the end of March, seeking to increase pressure on Beijing to facilitate the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and stabilize oil prices. He said China's dependence on oil from the Middle East means it must help the new coalition it is trying to form to resume oil tanker traffic through the strait. Trump said that "we would like to know" if Beijing would help before going.
Associated Press
The uncertainty underscores how much the US-Israeli strikes on Iran have changed global politics over the past two weeks. Canceling a face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping could have serious economic consequences: relations between Washington and Beijing have been tense, as both sides have threatened each other with high tariffs over the past year.
At the same time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng as part of a new round of trade talks designed to pave the way for Trump's trip to Beijing. The US and China have declared a truce that prevents the imposition of counter duties, but the stakes remain high. Before Trump suggested the possibility of canceling his trip to Beijing, a representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington evasively responded to Trump's call for external assistance in the strait.
Reuters: Japan and Australia announce no plans to send ships
Trump's demands for a coalition to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz appeared to be ignored when U.S. allies Japan and Australia said they had no plans to send naval vessels to the Middle East to escort ships through this vital waterway. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a staunch Trump supporter, said her country, limited by a constitution prohibiting war, has no plans to send naval vessels to escort ships in the Middle East, from where it gets 95% of its oil.
Reuters
"We have not yet made any decisions regarding the dispatch of escort ships. We continue to explore what Japan can do on its own and what can be done within the legal framework," Takaichi told parliament.
Australia, another key U.S. security ally in the Indo-Pacific region, which is also heavily dependent on fuel produced from Middle Eastern oil, said it would not send naval vessels to help reopen the strait. According to diplomats and officials, on March 16, European Union foreign ministers will discuss strengthening the small naval mission in the Middle East, but are not expected to make a decision on expanding its role to the blocked Strait of Hormuz.
Bloomberg: Trump leaves allies and enemies in the dark about the end of the war
As the US-Israeli war against Iran enters its third week, the pressure on the person most capable of ending it is intensifying. However, Trump's ever-changing explanations of the reasons for the outbreak of war do not allow either friends or opponents to predict when he will be ready to end it. And even if he does, Iran shows little willingness to cooperate. Trump first announced the imminent end of the war, and then called for the help of European and Middle Eastern allies.
Bloomberg
According to people familiar with the events, the situation was clearly demonstrated by a recent telephone conversation with the leaders of the Group of Seven, during which European colleagues repeatedly asked Trump questions about his future plans. He stated that he could not discuss the goals of the war during the conversation, but told the leaders that he had several goals and wanted the conflict to end as soon as possible. The last 48 hours have only worsened the condition of the once-loyal allies.
Conversations with several officials paint a picture of bewilderment and shock. No one seems ready to respond to Trump's call to allocate scarce resources to reopen the virtually closed Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the number of unofficial channels of communication with Iran is growing as countries from India to Turkey seek to ensure the safe passage of ships.
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