Donald Trump’s call for allies to send ships to the strait of Hormuz to protect commercial shipping vessels and unblock global oil supplies has met a muted response. In his post, Trump alleged that “many countries” would send ships “to keep the strait open and safe”. But allies including the UK, Japan, China and South Korea have so far failed to commit. Germany also appeared sceptical on Sunday when the foreign minister Johann Wadephul said a scheme to protect ships from Houthi attacks in Yemen was “not effective”. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump told the newspaper.

Source: The Guardian March 16, 2026 01:38 UTC