European leaders rebuff Trump’s call to open the Strait of Hormuz

By R Anil Kumar

BRUSSELS, March 17, 2026. European leaders are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s call to deploy ships during wartime to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital choke point for the world’s oil supply, as they try to keep some distance from the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.

Trump, who showed little interest in coalition-building in the run-up to the war, now finds America’s allies reluctant to join a conflict he unleashed without their input, and one that is deeply unpopular in their countries.

After Iranian strikes on cargo vessels transiting the strait, shipments of oil, gas and fertilizer have largely ground to a halt. In Europe, Washington’s allies are weathering not only a surge in global oil prices but also a rise in the price of natural gas that the United States, as the world’s largest producer, hasn’t experienced. The spike in energy costs threatens to slow economic growth and hike prices in Europe more sharply than in the U.S.

The crisis spreading across the Middle East is also shaping up to be a new source of tension in a rocky transatlantic relationship.

After complaining about the hesitation of European allies, Trump declared Tuesday on Truth Social: “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!” Still, he took aim at countries in the U.S.-led NATO alliance that did not want to get involved. “I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake,” the president told reporters.

The European pushback to Trump’s demands highlights frustrations over the global ambitions of an unfettered White House and an open-ended, expanding war.

“We are not party to the conflict, and so France would never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in ​the current context,” French President Macron told a cabinet ⁠meeting Tuesday.

“Once the core of the bombing ⁠stops,” however, France is ready “to assume responsibility” along with others and help escort tankers, Macron added.

Macron, who has deployed warships to the Mediterranean to defend French assets in the region, has said France would help mobilize a coalition to secure shipping lanes after a de-escalation with Iran.

Two European officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said France has opened talks with Tehran about the passage of ships, but it was not clear whether Iran’s battered leadership would be responsive or be convinced that the Europeans were truly acting independently of Washington, their most powerful ally.

Some European nations would be open to sending ships for demining and deterrence if there is an off-ramp in the war or a deal on the Strait of Hormuz, one of the officials said, but “nobody wants to go in while the war is raging.”

European leaders have balked at some of Trump’s demands even as they seek to avoid inflaming tensions with their once-closest ally, after previous, more heated confrontations over Trump’s push to take Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.

“While taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday, March 16.

At the White House, Trump expressed frustration Monday March 16, that European leaders were not heeding U.S. demands despite America’s longtime role in ensuring the continent’s security. He pointed to American troops stationed in U.S. allies such as Germany and Japan.

“We defend all these countries,” Trump said. “And then: ‘Do you have any minesweepers?’ And they say, ‘Well, would it be possible for us not to get involved?’”

Trump singled out Britain, which he said “was sort of considered the Rolls-Royce of allies,” as a source of disappointment. He said he had asked Starmer for assistance including minesweepers, only to hear that consultations were needed. “You are the prime minister. You can make a decision,” Trump said. “It’s very disappointing.”

The complicated response in Europe to Trump’s call reflects the continent’s own security dynamics. Countries more accustomed to projecting global power — Britain and France — have seemed more willing to join in securing the strait at a later stage.

Other European governments were more direct in their objections to any involvement that risks making their countries a target of Iranian counterattacks, while their companies and consumers feel the spike in energy prices.

“We’re beginning to see the effects of a real break of trust across the Atlantic,” said Nathalie Tocci, director of the Rome-based Institute for International Affairs. “I mean, why on earth would Europeans do this, right?” she said. “We’re talking about a president that has withdrawn military assistance from Ukraine, that has imposed tariffs on Europe, that has threatened a European country with annexation.”

Several European officials outright rebuffed Trump’s demands to send forces or ships into ongoing fighting.

“This is not Europe’s war,” E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after foreign ministers of the bloc’s 27 nations convened in Brussels on Monday, March 16, to discuss Europe’s response to the war. Kallas said the Europeans were focused on “diplomatic outreach” for a negotiated solution.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, whose country had been more supportive of the war than others, said Monday, March 16, there would be “no military participation” by Berlin.

“What does … Donald ​Trump expect,” Pistorius asked, “from one or two handfuls of European frigates in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful American Navy cannot accomplish?”

Tehran has pledged to keep retaliating against U.S. and Israeli attacks, and has said the Strait of Hormuz would stay closed to Iran’s “enemies.”

Even if European leaders could reach some form of diplomatic understanding with Iran about shipping routes, that is unlikely to restore traffic without a détente in the fighting between the United States, Israel and Iran that could reassure shipping companies, insurers and crews, European Union officials said.

The E.U. has undertaken relatively small naval operation since 2024 to help protect shipping lanes in the Red Sea, which some officials have suggested could be reinforced and expanded to the Strait of Hormuz. But there is little appetite for that without a ceasefire.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Monday, March 16, that assistance in the strait would “mean taking a step forward in involvement” that Italy was unwilling to take. Her government is struggling to defend its close ties to Trump as the war enters its third week.

While European officials have sought to convey that the U.S. war against Tehran falls out of NATO’s remit, that has done little to curb Trump’s irritation with others in the transatlantic military alliance.

Trump warned on March 15, that it would be “very bad for the future of NATO” if European countries did not join in efforts to restore shipping.

He said the European pushback proved his contention that while the United States defends its allies, they do not help America. The only time NATO has invoked its collective-defense clause, known as Article 5, was to assist the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

Trump’s ask for other countries to help secure the Strait of Hormuz also puts U.S. allies in Asia, which are heavily dependent on oil shipments from the Middle East, in a bind.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday, March 16, that Tokyo currently is not planning to deploy ships to escort vessels.

Japan’s postwar constitution restricts its military operations overseas. While Trump has urged American partners to provide minesweepers, Takaichi had ruled out the possibility of sending forces for demining into a conflict zone before there is a ceasefire.

Trump’s call for China to help secure the strait is also unlikely, some analysts and former diplomats said.

Beijing relies on the strait for its energy supply. But China is not willing to take actions that could position Iran, its friend, as an enemy, said Wang Yiwei, a former diplomat and a council member in the state-affiliated Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs.

“As for the ask over Hormuz, there is simply no way China will join, because not even the E.U. is doing it,” Wang said.

(Agencies)