Trump Demands Other Countries Help Secure Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration is talking to seven countries about helping to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, calling on them to help protect ships in the vital waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic.

With the conflict creating turmoil across the Middle East and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Trump insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility to protect the strait.

"I'm demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their territory," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington.

Though he declined to identify the governments that his administration has contacted, Trump said this weekend that he expected many countries would send warships to allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world's oil.

He said in a social media post he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would participate.

Trump also said Washington is in contact with Iran but expressed doubt that Tehran is prepared for serious negotiations to end the conflict.

U.S. officials responding to economic uncertainty over high oil prices predicted on Sunday that the war on Iran would end within weeks and that a drop in energy costs would follow, despite Iran's assertion that it remains "stable and strong" and ready to defend itself.

Trump had threatened more strikes on Iran's main oil export hub Kharg Island over the weekend and said he was not ready to reach a deal to end the war which has shut off the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Trump administration plans to announce as early as this week that multiple countries have agreed to form a coalition to escort ships through the narrow waterway but they are still discussing whether those operations would begin before or after hostilities end, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump, who on Friday said the U.S. Navy would "soon" start escorting oil tankers, has said Iran wants to negotiate, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Sunday disputed that claim.

“We have never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiations," Araqchi told CBS' "Face the Nation" program. "We are ready to defend ourselves for as long as it takes.”

With crude oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, Trump administration officials insisted that all signs point to a relatively quick end to the conflict.

"This conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks — could be sooner than that ... and we'll see a rebound in supplies and a pushing down of prices after that," U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC's "This Week" program.

Here are how some countries have responded to Washington's call to send ships to the region:

JAPAN

Japan does not currently plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort ships in the Middle East, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday.

"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," Takaichi told parliament.

AUSTRALIA

Australia will not send naval ships to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a government minister said on Monday.

"We won't be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz. We know how incredibly important that is, but that's not something that we've been asked or that we're contributing to," Catherine King, a member of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's cabinet, said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC.

SOUTH KOREA

"We will communicate closely with the U.S. regarding this matter and make a decision after careful review," South Korea's presidential office said on Sunday.

BRITAIN

Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the need to reopen the Strait to end disruption to global shipping with Trump, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Starmer also spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and they have agreed to continue talks on the Middle East conflict at a meeting on Monday, the spokeswoman added.

(Reuters)