Trump issues firm warning to Nato if allies fail to help the US
With Iran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed with drones and mines, President Trump has made a major demand of the US' NATO allies
European countries are being called on by President Trump to help secure vital shipping lanes in the Middle East, issuing an ominous threat to the NATO military alliance that has existed since 1949.
The president told a press gaggle on Sunday night that there would be a 'very bad future' in store for NATO, if there was 'no response' or a 'negative response' to his demands for help securing the Strait of Hormuz - the body of water next to Iran through which a fifth of the world's oil passes.
Trump argued that countries which would benefit from the strait being reopened should be the ones to secure the passage of oil tankers and other shipping, after the US and Israel unilaterally launched attacks on Iran that inevitably led to Tehran closing the crucial waterway.
But despite this stern ultimatum from the US president, that aims to force the hand of Europe's navies, by Monday morning it did not seem that Trump's warning had been heeded across the pond. At the same time, the price of an oil barrel rose to another high of $106.
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While smaller members of NATO like Italy and Greece signalled that they would not participate in the US operation in the Middle East, even the UK refused to be drawn into the conflict. For the moment at least.
Speaking at a press conference, the UK's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that the best and fastest way to restore the flow of oil from the Gulf to the rest of the world was to come to a 'negotiated agreement' to end the war in Iran.
Starmer also revealed that he had spoken to Trump the night before about the strait, but that he would not deploy troops without a legal basis and a 'properly thought out plan'.
In a sign of the intense discussions going on behind the scenes, se said his decision was 'about standing firm for the British interest, no matter the pressure.'
His words reflected those of China's, who Trump also called on to intervene in the Strait of Hormuz as a major beneficiary of oil imports from the region. A spokesperson for the country's foreign ministry said that 'China reiterates its call for all parties to immediately cease military operations.'
But while Trump's NATO demands seemed to fall on deaf ears Monday morning, the UK did reveal that they working on a 'viable plan' with 'all of our allies' to restore shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. A statement unlikely to be bluster, with French and British warships steaming into the Middle East.
Meanwhile, a top figure inside the UK's Labour government, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, has basically spelled out Europe's response to the US president's demands.
He denied Trump's invocation of the NATO alliance, pointing out that was not designed to beging wars, saying: “It is not a Nato war, it is a US-Israeli action. The articles of association of Nato are that it is a defensive alliance.
“We come to one another’s aid when those articles have been breached. We are deeply committed to Nato but it was not conceived and does not operate in the kind of situation we are seeing in the Gulf right now.”
When asked about President Trump's apparent threat to the future of NATO, McFadden said dismissively: “We always take the president seriously but we have learned in the last 15 months or so since he came into office that there is a lot of rhetoric and statements.”
William Morgan