Trump Vows to Secure Strait of Hormuz as Warships Deploy, Coalition Grows

On Friday, President Trump put fire under the broader community of concerned nations: the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help — A LOT! The U.S. will also coordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well. This should have always been a team effort, and now it will be (Truth).

That message continued through the weekend. New York Sun: President Trump pledged Saturday to quickly reopen the Strait of Hormuz with help from a multinational naval coalition, even while claiming to have “destroyed 100%” of Iran’s military capability in a two-week campaign that has disrupted global oil supplies and raised fears of a broader regional confrontation. “Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. He called on China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom to contribute vessels, saying those nations have been harmed by what he described as “this artificial constraint” (New York Sun).

K, Gulf Cooperation Council Issue Joint Statement on Securing the Strait of Hormuz

The coalition that Trump is pressing for seems to be coming together. Late last week: The UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council met for an “extraordinary meeting” to discuss Iran’s attacks.

The Gulf Cooperation Council is made of the following nations: • Kingdom of Bahrain • State of Kuwait • Sultanate of Oman • State of Qatar • Kingdom of Saudi Arabia • United Arab Emirates. Along with the UK, they issued the following statement on Sunday: • The Ministers reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding regional air space, maritime routes, and freedom of nahormuz coaltionvigation, as well as the safety and security of supply chains, shipping, mariners and the stability of global energy markets…. • The Ministers stressed that the security and stability of the Gulf region are fundamental pillars of the stability of the global economy, intrinsically linked to UK and global security. They recognized the significant contributions by the UK to the security of the region, and expressed appreciation to the UK on the recent decision to enhance defensive capabilities in the region, including through the participation of RAF Typhoon jets in defensive operations (GCC).

Between the coalition that is clearly coming together and the Marine force headed that direction, the message seems pretty clear: We will secure the Strait. Jennifer Griffin of Fox News: US defense official confirms to Fox News that the Pentagon is sending the USS Tripoli, a Marine Amphibious Ready Group,  and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to Mideast. The Tripoli is stationed out of Japan and would take about 2 weeks to get to the Mideast. Accompanying the ARG and the MEU are approx. 2500 US Marines (Griffin).

New York Times points to unique and strategic value of our MEU: Though their numbers are relatively small compared to the 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region, Marine Expeditionary Units are valued by military commanders because they can rapidly put detachments of troops and vehicles on the ground. In the Strait of Hormuz, the Marines could also conduct counter-drone operations with jamming vehicles placed on their ships, escort tankers and other merchant ships, the retired senior defense official added (New York Times).

Trump warns of ‘very bad’ future if NATO allies refuse to help open critical Strait of Hormuz

By Zoe Hussain, NY Post,  March 15, 2026:

President Trump on Sunday warned NATO faces a “very bad” future if the US allies fail to help reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz, as oil prices soar during the Iran war.

Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times that European nations and other global powers that rely on Gulf oil should join a US-led effort to secure the waterway — where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply normally flows.

“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 British outlet, arguing that Europe and China are more heavily dependent on oil from the region than the US.

“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”

The president also said he could delay his summit with China’s President Xi Jinping later this month as he presses Beijing to help unblock the Strait.

“I think China should help too because China gets 90 percent of its oil from the Straits [sic],” Trump told the Financial Times.

“We’d like to know before that. It’s [two weeks is] a long time … We may delay,” he said, without elaborating on how long.

Iran said on Saturday that all countries — other than the US and Israel — may pass through the waterway, in a desperate attempt at coalition-busting less than a day after America bombed military targets on Iran’s oil-critical Kharg Island.

International oil prices surged to roughly $106 a barrel on Sunday — skyrocketing by about 45% since the conflict in the Middle East escalated.

Trump said the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization should provide military support, ranging from minesweepers to forces that could knock out “bad actors” along the Iranian shore.

“We have a thing called NATO,” he told the Financial Times. “We’ve been very sweet. We didn’t have to help them with Ukraine. Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us . . . But we helped them.

“Now we’ll see if they help us,” Trump continued. “Because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them, but they won’t be there for us. And I’m not sure that they’d be there.”

The president also singled out his frustration with the UK after speaking to Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, earlier on Sunday, the outlet reported.

“The UK might be considered the number one ally, the longest serving, et cetera, and when I asked for them to come, they didn’t want to come,” Trump said.

“And as soon as we basically wiped out the danger capacity from Iran, they said, ‘Oh well, we’ll send two ships’, and I said, ‘we need these ships before we win, not after we win,’” he added.

“I’ve long said that NATO is a one-way street,” Trump said, claiming that Iran’s military capabilities had been largely “decimated” in the past two weeks of fighting and would pose little danger to European allies moving assets into the Gulf.

A French soldier was killed in an Iranian drone strike in Iraq on Thursday.

Trump also signaled that the US was prepared to launch new strikes that could target oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, the loading site for most of the Islamic Republic’s oil exports.

“You saw we hit Kharg Island, everything but the pipes yesterday,” Trump said, referencing the total “obliteration” of military targets on the island located about 16 miles off the Iranian coast.

“We can hit that in five minutes. And there’s not a thing they can do about it,” he said.