Monday March 16, 2026
www.thenewsdesk.ng

By Idorenyin UMOREN
With agency reports

The United States, US, President Donald Trump on Monday. March 16, 2026, demanded US allies join an effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz, as European powers ruled out a NATO mission to reopen the vital waterway shut by Iran during the Middle East war.

President Trump criticised the lukewarm response to his call for world powers to send warships to escort tankers through the strait, which normally carries a fifth of global crude oil, demanding a more enthusiastic response.



Global oil prices have surged by 40 to 50 per cent as Iran attacks shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and launches waves of missile and drone strikes in the Gulf in retaliation for the war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28.



Trump said he thought Britain and France would get involved — but only reluctantly.

“We strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm. The level of enthusiasm matters to me,” Trump told reporters at a White House event.

NATO allies and other Western nations pushed back earlier on Trump’s call, made at the weekend, for military hardware.



British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was working with allies to craft a “viable” plan to reopen the strait, but ruled out a NATO mission, while Berlin also said it “has been clear at all times that this war is not a matter for NATO”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “the question of how Germany might contribute militarily does not arise. We will not do so.”

Japan, Australia, Poland, Spain, Greece and Sweden also all distanced themselves from any military involvement in the Strait of Hormuz.



EU foreign ministers discussed the war in Brussels on Monday but showed “no appetite” for extending their Red Sea naval mission to help reopen Hormuz, the bloc’s top diplomat said.

Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that it would be “very bad for the future of NATO” if they refused to help, and he has threatened to delay a planned summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.