Despite the Greenland crisis, Trump claims NATO owes him assistance in the Iran war following U.S. support for Ukraine. ‘We’ve been very sweet’

Just two months prior, NATO was in the midst of an existential crisis due to President Donald Trump’s insistence that the U.S. take control of Greenland. He threatened tariffs and refused to rule out military action, but ultimately backed down.

Then on Sunday, Trump demanded that the alliance assist him in clearing the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against the Islamic republic two weeks ago.

“It’s only fitting that those who benefit from the Strait will help ensure that nothing bad occurs there,” Trump told the Financial Times, also stating that he could postpone his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative one, I think it will be very detrimental to NATO’s future.”

After he triggered the Greenland crisis this year and launched a trade war last year, allies have been re-evaluating the global order and their long-term future with the U.S.

Trump admitted to the FT that he’s pessimistic about U.S. allies coming to his aid. But he suggested that NATO owes him, despite years of scolding member states for not spending more on defense and even belittling their losses while fighting with the U.S. in Afghanistan.

“We’ve been very nice,” Trump said. “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. 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 they’d be there.”

He explained that NATO help could come in the form of minesweepers or commandos, and downplayed the military threat posed by Iran. Although Iran’s military has indeed been severely damaged by U.S. and Israeli bombardment, it still has enough strength to scare commercial shipping away from the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran assumes gatekeeper role

But Tehran is also signaling that the strait isn’t completely closed and that it has the power to decide who can pass, as the U.S. military has yet to restore free navigation through the narrow waterway.

Oil prices have skyrocketed as Iran’s attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf have effectively blocked the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquid natural gas flow, with Wall Street warning that crude could even reach $150 a barrel in a prolonged conflict.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that vessels from different countries have already been permitted to transit the strait and that several governments have approached Tehran to secure safe passage for their ships.

“I can’t mention any specific country,” he told CBS News. “And this is up to our military to decide.”

Reports have indicated that Iran is getting its oil shipments to top customer China, while hundreds of tankers carrying supplies from other countries remain trapped in the Gulf.

This keeps crucial revenue flowing into Iran. In contrast, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and other major producers have been forced to cut production as there’s nowhere to store their output.

Meanwhile, Trump ordered an attack on military sites on Kharg Island, Iran’s top oil export hub, escalating the situation. He is also attempting to form a naval coalition to reopen the strait. Sources told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the administration could soon announce an escort mission involving multiple countries, though it wasn’t clear if operations would start before or after hostilities end.

Trump earlier called on China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain, and others to send warships to the Middle East, though responses have been non-committal so far. At the same time, the U.K. and the Gulf Cooperation Council said member states “have the right to take all necessary measures to defend their security and stability and protect their territories, citizens, and residents.”

But the Strait of Hormuz remains disputed waters, and U.S. Navy officials have called it a “kill box” where Iran’s missiles, aerial drones, underwater drones, surface drones, mines, and small fast-attack boats pose numerous threats. Given the risks to multibillion-dollar warships, the Navy has declined requests from shipping companies to provide protection.

European officials are considering a naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz but admit that their current effort to protect shipping in the Red Sea “hasn’t been effective.”

“That’s why I’m very skeptical whether expanding Aspides into the Strait of Hormuz could provide more security,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, adding that Germany won’t play an active role in the war.

‘All U.S. response options are suboptimal’

Defense experts say a proper naval escort mission would need more ships, air power, and perhaps ground troops to neutralize Iranian threats.

The Strait of Hormuz has navigational limitations, and reaction times to attacks from the coast are short, according to Jennifer Parker, founder of Barrier Strategic Advisory and a former Royal Australian Navy veteran.

As a result, large-scale escort operations would require a significant number of warships, plus combat air patrols that would divert aircraft from other missions, she added in a post on X on Saturday.

“Responding to emerging coastal launch sites would require coordinated strike operations ashore and perhaps marines – the latter being a clear escalation risk,” Parker wrote. “Without significantly reducing Iran’s UAV and USV capabilities, escorts alone are unlikely to enable the safe passage of a large number of tankers.”

Then there’s the issue of clearing any mines in the strait. Despite the U.S. eliminating Iran’s navy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can still use small boats to lay mines, and not many are needed to scare away commercial traffic.

The U.S. also reduced its minesweeping fleet, and its remaining ships are stationed in Asia. A new class of littoral combat ship was designed to handle minesweeping missions, but it has yet to see combat use.

“Historically, mine clearance has been slow, and it’s almost impossible to do under fire,” MIT political science professor Caitlin Talmadge wrote in Foreign Affairs on Friday.

Like Parker, she said defending the strait during a shooting war may require the U.S. to take control of the Iranian coast by deploying Marines or special operations forces.

In fact, the U.S. is deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Mideast with over 2,000 troops, though some analysts have raised the possibility of an amphibious attack on Kharg Island.

“In short, if Iran effectively mines the strait, all U.S. response options are suboptimal,” Talmadge warned. “The United States should therefore focus aggressively on preventing Iranian mine-laying in the first place and finding a way out of the larger war. If it doesn’t, Washington should expect that ongoing harassment of traffic in the strait will be just one of several responses that Iran has long prepared and will now deploy.”