Trump suggests US could leave allies alone to secure Hormuz

Washington - President Donald Trump angrily suggested on March 18 that he could leave US allies to secure the Hormuz strait on their own since they have refused to fight alongside US forces against Iran in the crucial shipping lane.

Saying the United States doesn’t need the strait – a major global oil shipping pathway – Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social site that he could “let the Countries that use it” find a solution.

Traditional European and Asian partners have refused Mr Trump’s repeated requests for mine sweepers and other military hardware to clear the strait, which Iran has effectively choked off in response to the nearly three-week US-Israeli war.

Mr Trump has responded to the Hormuz crisis with a series of contradictory statements, saying both that allies must help the United States and then on March 17 saying “we don’t need any help”.

His latest statement on Truth Social suggested the United States could abandon the situation altogether, leaving other countries to deal with the aftermath.

“I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Strait?‘ That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!! President DJT,” he wrote.

Iran has attempted to use its grip on the narrow Hormuz as leverage against overwhelming US and Israeli attacks that have so far hit thousands of targets around the country, destroyed its navy and killed the top leadership.

Although only a handful of commercial ships have been hit by Iranian fire, the threat has been enough to paralyse traffic, resulting in worldwide oil price spikes.

The US military announced late on March 17 that it was using huge bunker-buster bombs to attack Iranian missile sites near the coast along Hormuz. AFP