Hormuz: Trump launched an appeal to NATO, but nobody responded

Translated by Martina Ravasi

In the aftermath of the third week since the beginning of the third war of the Gulf, American President Donald Trump declared that NATO will tackle “a very though future” if member States don’t cooperate actively to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial choke point for a fifth of the world oil trade. Interviewed by the Financial Times, Trump underlined that this is more beneficial for the EU than the US, since Brussels is “extremely dependent” on oil and natural gas coming from the Persian Gulf. “Those countries that are benefitting from the activities in the Strait ought to make sure that nothing bad will happen there”, Trump added. Moreover, the President called on China – a historic oil trade partner of Iran and Saudi Arabia – threatening to cancel his meeting with President Xi Jinping in case of a negative response. The meeting is scheduled at the end of this month.

The type of help that Trump required of his allies includes “whatever may be necessary” to weaken Teheran’s blockade. This blockade prevents any cargo ship from crossing the Strait unless it’s a Chinese, a Pakistani or a Turkish one. In concrete terms, there were talks about escorting vessels through that part of the sea and providing them with dragamines - military vessels specifically designed for the clearance of mined waters. And Europe is more equipped of them than the US. European voices were quick to respond and were almost unanimous. Indeed, the closure of Hormuz has already caused an increase by 45% in oil quotations comparing to the beginning of the conflict – 106 dollars per barrel now, thus raising strong concern for a potential world economic shock. Despite this situation, no European country responded to the appeal of the White House publicly. The very first country that responded was Germany, whose Defence Secretary Boris Pistorius underlined that “this is not our war, and we didn’t make it break out”. Pistorius’ statement was supported by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, who refused Trump’s request for help emphasising that Ukraine keeps a priority for Europe. Moreover, Greece, Spain, Canada, Norway, Finland and Italy sided with Germany. In particular, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni specified that “interfering would mean being involved”. While at the beginning the UK was uncertain about its position on this issue, Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a speech at the British Parliament where he excluded the possibility for the UK to be involved in a war against Iran. “We won’t get involved in this conflict”, he said. Although France refused to enter Trump’s international coalition aimed to secure the Strait, this country chose to keep its own navy nearby Oman’s coasts just to preserve its national interests. Even some Asian countries refused to accept Trump’s help suggestion. Indeed, both South Korea and Japan confirmed they wouldn’t deploy any vessel in the Persian Gulf. And the same goes for China. Indeed, in response to Trump’s pression, Beijing affirmed that they won’t jeopardize its relations with any country in the Middle East.

The European Union expressed its ideas through the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, who stressed the cruciality of the Strait for Europe. However, she also underlined that the Gulf crisis is going beyond NATO's action radius, thus excluding a potential military intervention. At the same time, Ms. Kallas hopes that a UN-driven international operation will be carried out in order to preserve commercial traffic in that sea area, which is crucial for energy supplies worldwide.

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