Mar 17, 2026 14:02 pm IST

Opinion | A Humbled Trump Is Now 'Demanding' Help From Friends

The Hormuz 'coalition' was never going to take off. Why, after all, would America's allies want to participate in a crisis not of their making?

Harsh V. Pant Harsh V. Pant

US President Donald Trump's attempt to mobilise a broad-based multinational naval coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz reflects a familiar tension in contemporary geopolitics: the gap between American expectations of burden-sharing and the willingness of partners to assume risk in crises not of their making.

Despite Washington's sustained exhortations - directed at key energy-dependent actors such as Japan, South Korea, European NATO members, and even China - there has been little by way of tangible response. No meaningful allied naval deployments have materialised. This hesitation is not accidental; it is rooted in both strategic calculation and political discomfort.

Iran's Calculated Moves

Iran, for its part, has avoided the escalatory optics of a formal blockade while effectively transforming the Strait into a selective chokepoint. By allowing relatively unhindered passage to countries it does not view as hostile - such as China, India, and Turkey - while complicating transit for US-aligned........

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