“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”
President Donald Trump has warned that there will be a “very bad” future for NATO allies if they refuse to help the US open up the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway in the Middle East off the southeast coast of Iran. The strait is used for international trade, much of it being related to oil and energy production.
“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump told the Financial Times. “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”
The comments from Trump come after he called on nations to aid the US in opening up the strait over the weekend. “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated. In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!” Trump posted to Truth Social.
During his interview with the Financial Times, the president also said that he may delay the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the month as a way to pressure them to help open the strait. “I think China should help too because China gets 90 percent of its oil from the Straits,” Trump added. “We’d like to know before that. It’s [two weeks is] a long time … We may delay.” Trump did not elaborate on how long the delay may be.
On Saturday, Iran said that all countries aside from the US and Israel can pass through the Strait of Hormuz in a desperate attempt to bust up the coalition of countries that have supported the US in the effort. Iran made the announcement less than a day after the Trump administration bombed military targets at Kharg Island, which is a critical chokepoint where the majority of oil flows through in Iran.
“We have a thing called NATO,” Trump added in his comments. “We’ve been very sweet. We didn’t have to help them 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. And I’m not sure that they’d be there.”
