WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump entered his war of choice against Iran without consulting global allies, but as he weighs an exit from the conflict, he is making it clear that he is expecting the world to help him fix the unintended damage that it has caused.
Trump is taking an increasingly annoyed tone toward Europe's lack of support for the U.S.-Israeli war effort. He also is giving short shrift to the fact that his decision contributed to disrupting the flow of oil to global markets through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has managed to largely choke off even as Trump insists that Iran has been "decimated."
The president started his Tuesday by fuming on social media at two of America's closest allies — France and Britain — while calling on the world to “Go get your own oil!” and “start learning how to fight for yourself.”
“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT,” Trump posted.
Minutes later, he went after France, claiming the country was “very unhelpful” as it “wouldn’t let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory.”
Trump's top advisers also are stepping up anti-NATO rhetoric
As Trump has ratcheted up his criticism, particularly against NATO allies, for not joining the U.S. and Israel in the war and being slow to respond to its consequences, top members of his administration have followed suit. The dynamic is creating uncertainty and concern over the future of the alliance, whose value Trump has already called into question.
While Trump's often scattershot insults and complaints toward partners and allies have become expected and to a certain extent tolerated, the piling on by top aides like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in recent days has suggested that the administration's anti-NATO posture is gaining steam — even as the president is showing signs that he could be edging toward finding an exit to the war sooner than later.
Hegseth argued Tuesday that the U.S. did “the heavy lifting on behalf of the free world” to deal with the threat from Iran and that other countries that depend on oil normally flowing through the strait should be aware that getting shipping moving is “not just our problem set going forward.”
“There are countries around the world who ought be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference. “It’s not just the United States Navy. Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.”
Trump, in an Oval Office exchange with reporters later Tuesday, said protecting the strait will be up to other countries and estimated that the U.S. would be done launching attacks against Iran in two to three weeks.
“That’s not for us," Trump said. "That’ll be for France. That’ll be for whoever’s using the strait.”
U.S. investors took Trump's sharp rhetoric in stride, including from an interview with CBS News in which Trump said he's not quite ready to pull back U.S. troops that have massed near the strait but soon will. The S&P 500 surged 2.9% to its biggest gain since last spring, while the Dow industrials advanced more than 2.5% as doubt about a possible end to the war swung back to hope on Wall Street.
Nevertheless, the president's criticism, particularly weeks of lashing NATO, has left Europe uneasy about what it might mean for the military alliance, which was already shaken by Trump reducing U.S. military support for Ukraine and threatening to seize Greenland from ally Denmark.
NATO allies Spain and France have either forbidden or restricted use of their airspace or joint military facilities for the U.S. for the war. They, along with other nations, have agreed to at least assist in an international coalition that would keep the Strait of Hormuz open once the conflict ends, but the specifics of their involvement and the health of the coalition itself remain unclear.
France and the U.K. on Tuesday sought to downplay Trump's rhetorical salvos, with Macron’s office expressing surprise: “France has not changed its position since day one."
British Defense Secretary John Healey said the U.S. is a key ally despite criticism from his American counterpart and noted that the U.K. is doing its part to help Gulf nations defend against Iranian attacks.
Healey, during a visit to Qatar, announced that the U.K. is sending more missile and air defense systems to Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as well as extending the use of its Typhoon fighter jets in Qatar.
“The U.S. is a uniquely close ally to the U.K.,” Healey said. “We do things as two nations that no other militaries or intelligence services do."
He said his job during the conflict was to ensure Britain is defending its people and its partners, adding that "we are.”
While the Europeans have made plain that the conflict isn't theirs, they have plenty of reason beyond securing the strait to ensure that Iran doesn't escalate further, analysts say.
Why Europe needs to remain engaged
More than a decade of civil war in Syria led more than 5 million people to flee and a significant number to seek asylum in Europe, with social and political ripples for the continent.
And with the Houthis, the Iran-aligned militant group in Yemen, launching its first missiles of the war at Israel over the weekend and threatening to bog down the Red Sea, a critically important trade route for Europe, there's no shortage of reasons for European officials to use what leverage they might have to encourage Trump to wind down the war.
“I think this is a true opportunity for Europe to show the Gulf that it can be a partner,” said Yasmine Farouk, Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Project director at the International Crisis Group. "And I think they have already been showing that in the defense (weapons they've provided to Gulf nations), they need now to make it more into the diplomatic side in terms of offering offramps and working on a deal."
Europe, in its effort to persuade Trump, could do well by keeping its focus on the economic consequences of the war, pressing diplomacy and a maritime stabilization mission tied to a ceasefire, and building “an off-ramp that flatters Trump’s vanity,” Jeremy Shapiro, U.S. programs director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in an analysis published Tuesday.
“Trump will claim victory no matter how this war ends,” Shapiro wrote. “Europeans should want that to happen sooner rather than later.”
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Associated Press writers Ben Finley, Darlene Superville and Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Brian Melley in London contributed to this report.
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