Trump says Hormuz Strait help ‘on the way’ as allies reject military action 

United States President Donald Trump has said “numerous countries” have told him “they’re on their way” following his appeal for an international naval coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

Trump made the statement on Monday after over the weekend calling on a handful of countries to join the coalition. However, he did not identify any of the countries in question.

“Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way. Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t,” Trump said.

When subsequently asked which countries had pledged to join, Trump responded “I’d rather not say yet”, adding that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be making an official announcement.

“They’ve already started to – it takes a little while to get there,” Trump said. “In some cases, you have to travel an ocean. So doesn’t go that fast, but it’ll go fast. And we have some that are fairly local that are doing it.”

In his appeal over the weekend, Trump identified China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom as countries that should join the coalition. He later on all “the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait”, specifically saying the members of the NATO alliance should join.

To date, no country has confirmed its involvement.

In contrast, several countries have already doused the prospect, with France, Australia and Japan saying they had no intentions of sending military ships.

On Monday, several more European leaders joined the chorus, with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius saying there would be “no military participation”, but that Berlin was open to supporting diplomatic efforts.

South Korea and the UK have said they were reviewing the situation. The UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was discussing the possibility of offering its mine-hunting drones in the region, but maintained the UK would “not be drawn into the wider war”.

Trump, meanwhile, again took aim on Monday at countries that would not support the mission.

“Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic,” he said.