US president wants countries to help police the strait after Iran effectively closed the vital fossil fuel shipping channel – key US politics stories from Monday 16 March at a glance
Key US allies in Europe and beyond have ruled out sending warships to the strait of Hormuz, despite threats from Donald Trump that Nato faces “a very bad future” if members fail to help reopen the vital waterway.
The UK, Germany, France and Italy, along with Australia and Japan, have said they had no plans to send warships.
The US president wants countries to help police the strait after Iran responded to US-Israeli attacks by using drones, missiles and mines to in effect close the channel for tankers that usually transport a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.
At a press conference on Monday, Trump repeated his call on allies to help reopen shipping in the strait, saying “some are very enthusiastic about it and some aren’t”. He reiterated he was “not happy with the UK”, but he thought it would be involved.
