Trump Belittles Allies That Rejected His Iran War Appeals

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Trump this week had stepped up his appeals for help — from both allies and China — to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The effective shuttering of the strait has driven US gasoline prices higher, piling pressure on the administration ahead of midterm elections in November.

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No government has publicly said it will send warships to escort commercial vessels through Hormuz. Many military analysts have said that, without a ceasefire, it would be dangerous to send ships through the strait even with armed escorts.

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Japan, whose prime minister is set to visit the White House on Thursday, has said it’s exploring the legal implications of the US effort while also indicating that the US hadn’t made a specific demand to send ships to the Middle East.

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Canada has no intention of joining military operations against Iran, the country’s foreign minister Anita Anand told Bloomberg on Tuesday. Speaking in Ankara on Tuesday, Anand responded to Trump’s call for NATO allies to help secure the vital waterway, saying the strait and broader region were not within the alliance’s geographic focus.

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Iran has attacked about 20 vessels in the Persian Gulf and near Hormuz since the conflict began. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait have all reduced oil output as a result of the blockage. Qatar, a top-three supplier of liquefied natural gas, has shut down production of the fuel. 

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A trickle of vessels are still using Hormuz, most of them bound for countries such as China and India. The prices of LNG, fertilizers, aluminum and other commodities have increased sharply since the start of the war.

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Trump said he’d asked China — among those he’s asked for naval support — to delay a summit with his counterpart Xi Jinping, citing the need to stay in Washington to oversee the war effort.

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That decision came amid growing opposition to the war at home, including among his own supporters. Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official who twice received Trump’s endorsement in failed bids for Congress, announced he’s resigning in protest, arguing that Israel had dragged the US into the conflict.

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In parallel with the war on Iran, Israel is stepping up an offensive in Lebanon, where it’s fighting the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Trump on Monday said that “Hezbollah’s a big problem, and they’re rapidly being eliminated,” confirming that he’d discussed the situation in Lebanon with Israeli leaders.

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More than 4,000 people have been killed across the Middle East in the war so far, according to tolls from governments and non-governmental organizations. About 3,100 people have died in Iran, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, while the Lebanese government says 850 have been killed there by Israeli strikes. 

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Dozens have died in Gulf states and Israel, while the US has lost 13 military personnel.

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Trump threatened to expand strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s main export hub, to target oil infrastructure. That follows US hits on the island’s military sites over the weekend. 

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Surging oil prices since the start of the war — up about 40% in the past two weeks — have in turn pushed up US gasoline prices. The average cost of a gallon of gasoline has risen each day since the conflict began to around $3.79, according to the American Automobile Association. 

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Trump on Monday said he was “very proud” of his decision to start the war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. He argued that without US action, Iran would have had nuclear weapons — something the regime in Tehran denies seeking — and that other nations should be “thanking me.”

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—With assistance from John Bowker and Magdalena Del Valle.

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