Washington: US President Donald Trump has again lashed out against NATO, stressing that he does not need its help in the Strait of Hormuz, and saying that the military bloc was “useless when needed” during the war on Iran.
On Friday afternoon, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that the key oil and gas freight corridor was “completely open” for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, which is set to end next week.
Just an hour later, Trump took to Truth Social and confirmed that the Strait of Hormuz was open to traffic, later claiming that Tehran has agreed to “never close it again.” He also stressed that the regional US blockade against Iranian vessels would continue until Washington’s demands were met.
Trump has for weeks slammed his European NATO allies for not joining the war on Iran, after the country effectively blocked the strait to ships from what it called hostile nations. The US president hinted that the US could leave the military bloc as a result.
NATO member France, which deployed its flagship aircraft carrier and several warships to the Middle East during the conflict, convened a meeting of European leaders in Paris on Friday to discuss the situation around closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who co-chaired the meeting alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, announced that London and Paris would launch a “multi-national mission to protect freedom of navigation as soon as conditions allow.”
Trump has already accused Starmer of being a fair-weather friend earlier in the Iran conflict. Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, the US president suggested he could rethink the trade deal Washington struck with London last year, giving the UK a reprieve from his tariff onslaught.
