Trump piles on pressure on EU allies over securing Strait of Hormuz |
Trump piles on pressure on EU allies over securing Strait of Hormuz
President Trump is escalating his feud with longtime U.S. allies over not helping secure the Strait of Hormuz as a part of his pressure campaign to enlist other countries to take responsibility for the critical shipping lane.
Trump singled out the U.K. in a Truth Social post Tuesday directed at countries unable to get to jet fuel as a result of the strait’s closure, telling them to either purchase U.S. oil or take it from the strait itself. He then targeted France in a subsequent post over its refusal to allow planes headed to Israel with military supplies from flying over French territory.
Allies so far don’t appear to be budging, including Italy and Spain, which have pushed back on U.S. requests to access their airspace or bases on occasion, further irritating the president.
“There’s a larger overarching issue here of the relationship between the U.S. and the allies, and I think a lot of people starting with Donald J. Trump are really, really surprised the Europeans have essentially thumbed us in the eye,” one former Trump administration official said.
The escalation raises questions about the administration’s next steps in the conflict as gas prices skyrocket in the U.S., hitting an average of $4 a gallon for the first time in three years.
The U.S.’s allies are also feeling that strain. European gas prices have climbed more than 70 percent since the operation began late last month.
The European Union’s energy chief Dan Jorgensen told Reuters on Tuesday that the bloc is considering bringing back energy crisis efforts last seen in 2022 when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
“In some ways because we’re a net exporter of energy, even though our energy prices are up significantly, it has not been the same shock that it has been in Europe and Asia,” said Marc Short, who served as Trump’s White House legislative director during his first administration.
“Economically this is important to [Europe] too. So, I could see them capitulating to him,” he said.
The unnamed former Trump administration official told The Hill the Europeans should take Trump’s rhetoric on the matter seriously.
“If they don’t step up and do the right thing here, and the right thing is to line up with the Americans, then what is Trump’s response going to be when they come back and ask for more help on Ukraine?” the official said.
Clayton Seigle, senior fellow in the energy security and climate change program at Center for Strategic and International Studies, said some of the U.S.’s allies don’t have the same military capability as the U.S. to join in militarily if a decision is made to control the strait.
“If the United States Armed Forces are not undertaking those kinds of sophisticated and dangerous missions, I don’t think these other countries are going to do that either,” Seigle said. “So they may employ some elements of their armed forces in association with, or as part of, a security arrangement that’s negotiating with Tehran. I think that that could be possible.”
The U.K. and France have arguably taken the brunt of Trump’s wrath over their reluctance to aid the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office responded to Trump, saying it has been its position since the beginning of the war, according to Reuters.
When asked about Trump’s comments singling out the U.K. over the strait, U.K. Defense Minister John Healey maintained that the country will not be drawn into the wider war.
However, Healey announced Tuesday that the country would deploy nearly 1,000 troops across the region and send air defence equipment to help aid allies in the region amid continued Iranian attacks.
Trump’s social media post on the U.K. and the strait notably came minutes before Buckingham Palace confirmed King Charles III and Queen Camilla would undertake a state visit to the U.S., which will include a state dinner at the White House.
“Trump’s got leverage now. [The British] want the meeting. He could always threaten to delay or cancel the meeting,” the unnamed former official said.
Other longtime U.S. allies are continuing to push back against Trump despite his very public pressure campaign.
Seigle said the president’s social media posts from Tuesday “just gives a sense of frustration about the way these dynamics have unfolded over the last four or five weeks.”
Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles described the conflict as “profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust,” according to The Associated Press.
“This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran,” Robles told reporters Monday.
But Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a post Tuesday on social platform X that there was no bad blood with the U.S. and that Italy’s bases are “active, in use and nothing has changed.”
He noted, though, that “International agreements clearly regulate and distinguish what requires specific Government authorization (for which it has been decided to always involve Parliament), without which it is not possible to grant anything, and what is instead considered technically authorized because it is included in the agreements. A minister only has to ensure they are respected.”
“I want to reiterate that there is no cooling or tension with the U.S., because they know the rules that have governed their presence in Italy since 1954 just as well as we do,” he wrote.
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