The Strait of Hormuz Is Europe’s Fight to Win

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Russia would greatly benefit from a permanent Iranian straitjacket on the world’s most critical energy route.

If read by his tone alone, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s demands that European leaders help secure the Strait of Hormuz are petty swipes at the United States’ closest allies. In reality, his calls at a recent Pentagon briefing for Europeans to “get in a boat” are part of a broader effort to strengthen the Western alliance against Russia.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, speaking in Washington hours after meeting President Donald Trump at the White House earlier this month, signaled that European allies may indeed move to act, pointing to an emerging coalition model led by the United Kingdom to organize contributions ranging from minehunters and frigates to surveillance technology.

This is a shrewd move by the Western alliance that will not only support US war aims in the Middle East and restore Europe’s access to Persian Gulf energy but also strike a significant blow in Europe’s own fight against Russia, one of Iran’s primary patrons.

While Iran doesn’t physically sit in the European theater, its position on the world stage is of huge consequence to Europe. But when President Trump first proposed Western control of the strait, Europeans reacted with horror, accusing the president of dragging them into a war that was not theirs to fight. “What does…Trump expect a handful or two handfuls of European frigates to do in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful ⁠US........

© The National Interest