Some other countries ‘weren’t that enthusiastic,’ Trump said.
President Donald Trump said on March 16 that several nations will send warships to join the U.S. Navy in escorting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz but expressed disappointment that several key NATO “big boys,” notably the UK and Germany, have not responded to his call for a joint operation.
“Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way,” he said at a Kennedy Center luncheon. “Some are very enthusiastic about it. Some are in countries that we’ve helped for many, many years.”
The president said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had denied his request that the UK send two aircraft carriers to the Arabian Sea or eastern Mediterranean.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been more cooperative, he said, and has dispatched an aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean. This has allowed the USS Gerald Ford to join the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea to focus on the strait.
“I have spoken to him,“ Trump said. ”He’s been, on a scale of zero to 10, I’d say he’s been an eight.”
When asked what countries have committed ships, the president said, “I’d rather not say yet, but we’ll be announcing [details soon].”
“I have to tell you, we have some that are really enthusiastic,“ he said. ”They’re coming already. They’ve already started to get there. You know, takes a little while to get there.”
The bottom line, he said, is that the United States could do it itself.
“We don’t need anybody,“ Trump said. ”We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. But it’s interesting. I’m almost doing it in some cases, not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react.
“I’ve been saying for years that if we ever did need them, they won’t be there, not all of them, but they won’t be there.”
Trump said on March 15 that he had asked seven countries that depend heavily on the waterway to help secure it, after earlier naming China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the UK as nations he hoped would deploy ships to augment U.S. forces in the Arabian Sea.
By John Haughey
