Trump Demands Help With Hormuz, Threatens More Kharg Strikes

President Donald Trump reiterated his appeals for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying that Iran was nearly obliterated even as the war keeps roiling oil markets and global shipping.Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump reiterated his appeals for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying that Iran was nearly obliterated even as the war keeps roiling oil markets and global shipping.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.“Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way — some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years,” Trump told reporters Monday during a White House event.The president expressed his frustration with other nations, who have so far been publicly noncommittal on his calls to help ensure vessels can transit the strait. The vital waterway has been effectively closed since the start of the war, crunching global energy supply chains. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters? Browse here.Trump called out NATO and others, claiming they had leaned on the US for “tens of billions of dollars” in protection, yet failed to act when asked.Trump’s remarks dovetail with a series of attacks in recent days that indicate neither side is letting up in the fighting that has upended the region.US crude traded down about 4% near $94 a barrel at 1:38 p.m. in New York after signs that supplies from emergency reserves will be available in coming weeks. Brent crude was down about 2% and trading near $101 a barrel after briefly dipping below $100.The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a transit point for about a fifth of the world’s oil — has forced the likes of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to reduce oil output further. Still, a trickle of vessels is beginning to find a way through the waterway.“We’re hammering their capacity to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz with more than 30 mine-laying ships destroyed,” Trump said Monday. He added US officials weren’t certain whether Iran has actually laid mines in the strait but said it would be “a form of suicide” if they did. Earlier: Trump Gets Chilly Response From Allies Over Demand on HormuzHe said more than 7,000 targets have been struck and that Iran’s “anti-aircraft is decimated, their radar is gone and their leaders are gone. Other than that, they’re doing quite well.”Trump threatened to expand strikes on Kharg Island to target oil infrastructure. The island is Iran’s main export hub and was hit by the US in recent days.“We can do that on five minutes’ notice. It’ll be over,” Trump said Monday.As the war entered its 17th day, Iran struck new targets across the Persian Gulf, hitting a key UAE oil hub. The UAE oil-export terminal of Fujairah suspended loadings temporarily after a drone strike on Monday — the second attack in as many days. Dubai also briefly halted flights at its main airport and said some Emirates departures would be canceled because of a fire at a fuel tank that it said was caused by an Iranian drone.Israel carried out more airstrikes on infrastructure in the Islamic Republic’s capital, Tehran.Surging oil prices since the start of the war — up more than 40% in the past two weeks — have in turn pressured US gas-pump prices, a critical pain point for consumers. The average cost of a gallon of gas has risen each day since the conflict began, according to American Automobile Association data. Underscoring the domestic pressure on Trump, administration officials on Sunday asked Americans for patience as global oil prices rise.Trump has called on world powers — including France, the UK, Japan and China — to help the US reopen the strait by sending warships to provide escorts to commercial vessels. “We strongly encourage other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm,” Trump said Monday. He added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would announce countries that would help the US with that effort, saying some of the nations involved would be “fairly local.”“If there was an easy way to fix Hormuz, it would have been fixed in the Reagan administration,” Caroline Glick, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in an interview, adding that Israel was doing what it could to help secure the waterway while acknowledging limitations in combating Iran’s “terror on the seas.”The response from other allies across Europe and Asia has ranged from caution to ambivalence if not outright rejection. European officials have begun debating whether to redirect a Red Sea naval mission toward Hormuz, but the move requires unanimous approval and faces resistance in some capitals, including Berlin. In Asia, key US partners including Japan and South Korea have also stopped short of committing ships.In Japan, officials said there were no plans to dispatch ships to escort stalled tankers — an issue that has complicated relations with the US ahead of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s White House visit on Thursday. The UK similarly wouldn’t commit to a full naval mission, even as Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he’d explore options with allies.While China hasn’t made any direct response to Trump’s request for help in the strait, the state-run Global Times dismissed the idea as a US attempt to spread the risk “of a war that Washington started and can’t finish.” Trump raised the prospect of postponing his trip to China later this month to meet President Xi Jinping if Beijing doesn’t help secure the strait, though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said any delay would be due to logistics, and not over Trump’s demand.Trump said over the weekend that Iran is ready to make a deal to end the war, but the US wants better terms, including a commitment by Tehran to abandon nuclear activities.On Monday, Trump highlighted the uncertainty over any talks, including who in the Iranian government could help end the war.“We don’t know who their leader is. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are,” he said, adding that it was unclear if the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was even alive. “A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg, the one leg, and he’s, you know, been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead,” Trump said.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has denied seeking talks or a ceasefire with the US.“The reason we say we do not want a ceasefire is not because we are seeking war, but because this time this war must end in such a way that our enemies never again think of repeating these attacks,” Araghchi said at a media briefing on Monday. The conflict has left almost 4,000 people dead across the region, according to tolls from governments and nongovernmental organizations. Saudi Arabia has begun pumping oil through a pipeline that runs from its eastern oil fields to a port at Yanbu on its western coast. That’ll allow it to avoid the strait for at least some, but not all, of its crude exports.There have been 16 reported attacks on vessels in and around Hormuz since the war began, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations.—With assistance from Devika Krishna Kumar, Paul Richardson and Dan Williams.(Updates with additional details throughout, starting in sixth paragraph.)Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.