{"id":204554,"date":"2026-03-18T15:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/rebuffed-by-allies-trump-now-says-u-s-doesnt-need-help-defending-the-strait-of-hormuz-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:07:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:07:00","slug":"rebuffed-by-allies-trump-now-says-u-s-doesnt-need-help-defending-the-strait-of-hormuz-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/rebuffed-by-allies-trump-now-says-u-s-doesnt-need-help-defending-the-strait-of-hormuz-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebuffed by allies, Trump now says U.S. doesn't need help defending the Strait of Hormuz – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump dropped his push Tuesday for U.S. allies to join in protecting the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian threats \u2014 an about-face that came just one day after he called upon nations to \u201cget involved\u201d so oil tankers can safely navigate the crucial shipping lane.
First on social media<\/a> and later in an Oval Office meeting, Trump said the outside military support he has been working to muster<\/a> is no longer necessary in the war, which the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran on Feb. 28.
\u201cWe don\u2019t need any help, actually,\u201d Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office as he hosted Ireland\u2019s prime minister, Miche\u00e1l Martin.
\u201cPresident Trump has great relationships with foreign leaders around the world. At the same time, he has long called attention to the disproportional dynamics that have been enabled by weak Presidents for decades \u2014 including the United States\u2019 extensive financial support of NATO and unfair trading practices that hurt our farmers and workers,\u201d White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement. \u201cThe President was resoundingly elected to put America First, and he will continue to bolster US national security through Operation Epic Fury, with or without NATO.\u201d
Trump had gotten a chilly response from U.S. allies he\u2019d tried to enlist in a joint effort to police the strait, which has been effectively shut down in the face of Iranian attacks that have jeopardized oil supplies.
On Monday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius<\/a> said, \u201cThis is not our war; we have not started it.\u201d Before Trump\u2019s Oval Office meeting Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would \u201cnever take part in operations to open or free the Strait of Hormuz in the current context\u201d but was prepared to play a role once the fighting stopped.
Asked about Macron\u2019s statement, Trump said he \u201cwill be out of office very soon.\u201d (Macron\u2019s term ends in May 2027.)
Trump was measured in discussing the dustup within the NATO alliance, though one of his confidants, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote on X <\/a>that he had spoken to Trump about it and had “never heard him so angry in my life.”
“The repercussions of providing little assistance to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning are going to be wide and deep for Europe and America,” Graham wrote, saying he shared Trump’s anger.
Trump had talked repeatedly in recent days about assembling a coalition that would help repel Iranian attacks against oil tankers and other ships navigating the strait, a narrow passageway that has become a choke point for the world\u2019s oil.
The war has triggered a spike in gas prices<\/a>, creating political problems for Trump at home ahead of the congressional midterm elections in November.
Trump said Monday at the White House that \u201cnumerous countries<\/a> have told me they are on their way\u201d to help. He said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be making an announcement. No announcement or list has yet been released.
As for the holdouts, he said, \u201cwe strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm.\u201d
The Iran war amounts to a test of Trump\u2019s “America First” approach to global conflict. He has long been skeptical of military alliances, warning that the U.S. builds a protective umbrella around other nations without any guarantee that those beneficiaries of American power would come to its aid when needed.
That position has alienated <\/strong>NATO countries<\/a> <\/strong>that have sent troops to U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to see them die in action.
The one time NATO invoked the Article 5 mutual security guarantee was in defense of the U.S. following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
\u201cTrump\u2019s bullying and tendency to negotiate by megaphone don\u2019t go down well with European allies,\u201d Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to the U.S., told NBC News.
In 1990-91, President George H.W. Bush knitted together a broad coalition of nations to confront Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, before he launched Operation Desert Storm.
By virtue of Bush\u2019s painstaking diplomatic work, that conflict \u201cbecame, literally, Saddam Hussein against the world,\u201d said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official and now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
No such consultations took place before the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, various diplomats said.
Some coalition-building efforts are unfolding now, more than two weeks after the strikes started. In a State Department-wide cable Monday, all U.S. diplomats were directed to tell foreign governments, \u201cat the highest appropriate level,\u201d that they \u201cmust move expeditiously to diminish the capabilities of Iran\u201d because of an \u201celevated risk of attack\u201d on their own countries.
A European diplomat told NBC News: \u201cHe\u2019s asking us to help for a war he started. There is not much enthusiasm for this. And even if European navies are sent to the Gulf, it would not ensure the strait is reopened. Iran can keep it closed as long as it likes because all it takes is a drone or a mine.\u201d
In the run-up to \u201cOperation Epic Fury,\u201d Trump ignited a series of confrontations with NATO countries that have soured relations on both sides of the Atlantic. Trump rattled U.S. allies with his focus on acquiring Greenland<\/a>, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
For a time, he wouldn\u2019t rule out using force<\/a>, if necessary, but then he backed off in favor of a negotiated solution to Greenland\u2019s status.
\u201cIt\u2019s not possible to just forget what happened with Greenland. Trust has been damaged, and it\u2019s not easily repaired,\u201d said a second European diplomat.
Trump also has confounded European allies by not using more coercive sanctions to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to get him to make peace with Ukraine. More than two months ago, Graham said that Trump had \u201cgreenlit\u201d a bipartisan bill that would have imposed tougher sanctions on Russia and that a Senate vote could happen in a week. The measure is still languishing in Congress<\/a>.
The Trump administration appears to have moved in the opposite direction, temporarily lifting sanctions<\/a> last week against Russian oil that was at sea, in hope of boosting supplies and curbing prices.
Trump told NBC News<\/a> that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been \u201cfar more difficult to make a deal with\u201d than Putin in ending the war.
Those comments unnerved current and former officials at home and abroad. A former senior U.S. military officer said they were incredulous that Trump would place blame on Zelenskyy, whose democratic country was invaded by Russian forces. A third European diplomat said they were upset that Trump saw fit to criticize Zelenskyy, as opposed to Putin. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to talk freely.
Marko Mihkelson, who chairs the Estonian Parliament\u2019s Foreign Affairs Committee, told NBC News: \u201cIf President Trump would like to achieve peace \u2014 as he has promised and worked for \u2014 then he has to change tactics against Russia. You can\u2019t be a neutral mediator in this war. Russia is not going to stop unless they are stopped.\u201d
Added Westmacott: \u201cOn Ukraine, Trump has been a huge disappointment to America\u2019s European allies. They are dismayed by his tendency to believe the lies Putin tells him, to see Ukraine as a purely European issue and to depict Zelenskyy as the obstacle to peace when Europeans, and the facts, show the opposite to be the case.\u201d
It’s unclear whether the position Trump laid out Tuesday will hold. By his own acknowledgment, he hadn\u2019t made a \u201cfull court press\u201d for additional help.
Differences aside, America and its European allies need to recognize the stakes and accept that their interests are aligned, Mihkelson said.
“Europeans must understand that to succeed in this very turbulent world today and to safeguard our security and stability, we have to stick together,” he said.
Peter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.
Andrea Mitchell is chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.
Dan De Luce\u00a0is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.\u00a0
Abigail Williams is a producer and reporter for NBC News covering the State Department.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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