Why countries are rejecting Trump’s call to send ships to Strait of Hormuz
Nato leaders rejected US president Donald Trump’s call to get involved in the war against Iran, despite mounting pressure from Washington.
A day after Japan, Australia and the UK said they had no plans to send naval ships to the strategic waterway, Germany joined in saying Nato had “nothing to do” with the US-Israeli war on Iran.
“It is not Nato’s war,” a spokesperson for German chancellor Friedrich Merz said. “Nato is an alliance to defend the alliance area. The United States did not consult us before this war, and so we believe this is not a matter for Nato or the German government.”
Mr Trump earlier said his administration had contacted seven countries and expected them to help secure the waterway, which Iran has effectively blockaded.
“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory,” Mr Trump told reporters aboard the Air Force One. “It’s the place from which they get their energy.”
German defence minister Boris Pistorius also dismissed the American request. “This is not our war. We have not started it. 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?” he said, downplaying warnings by the US president that failing to come to Washington’s aid could have consequences for the Nato alliance.
Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi earlier said the US had yet to make any formal request for assistance.
“We have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework,” she said.
Ms Takaichi told lawmakers: “Legally speaking, this is very difficult. We are carefully examining what can be done within the scope of current laws and what is the best course of action at this time. At the same time, we are continuing to engage with Iran to help de-escalate the situation while also exchanging information with various countries.”
Japan has begun releasing oil reserves to stabilise supply, but says sending its Self-Defence Forces abroad would be politically sensitive. Takayuki Kobayashi, the policy chief of Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said the threshold for military involvement was “extremely high”.
Australia has also rejected calls to provide naval support to secure shipping in the strait. “We’ve been very clear about what our contribution is to requests and so far that is to the UAE [United Arab Emirates] obviously providing aircraft to assist with defence particularly given the number of Australians that are in that area in particular,” transport minister Catherine King said.
“We won’t be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz,” Ms King said.
“We know how incredibly important that is but that’s not something we’ve been asked or we’re contributing to.”
James Paterson, the shadow defence minister, said that Australia would have to “carefully consider” any request for naval assets. “You would need to have a naval vessel that’s capable of protecting itself against drone and missile attacks.
