US president’s call for coalition to protect commercial ships gets muted response – key US politics stories from 15 March at a glance
Donald Trump’s call for allies to send ships to the strait of Hormuz to protect commercial shipping vessels and unblock global oil supplies has met a muted response.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called on the UK, China, France, Japan, South Korea and other countries to send ships to the waterway, the world’s busiest shipping route, which is being violently blockaded by Iran.
In his post, Trump alleged that “many countries” would send ships “to keep the strait open and safe”. But allies including the UK, Japan, China and South Korea have so far failed to commit. Germany also appeared sceptical on Sunday when the foreign minister Johann Wadephul said a scheme to protect ships from Houthi attacks in Yemen was “not effective”.
He also issued a warning to allies in an interview in the FT, saying that Nato faces a “very bad” future if US allies fail to assist in opening up the strait of Hormuz.
