Allies of NATO said on Monday that they will not participate in the plan by Donald Trump to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, instead proposing to intervene only after hostilities end—a move likely to anger Trump and increase tensions within the alliance.
Trump has stated that the U.S. military would cooperate with other countries to block all maritime traffic in the waterway after weekend talks failed to produce an agreement to end the six-week conflict with Iran. However, the U.S. military later clarified that the blockade, which began at 16:00 Kosovo time, would apply only to vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports.
Since the start of the conflict on February 28, Iran has largely blocked the strait to all ships except its own. It has also sought to make its control over the passage permanent and potentially impose fees on vessels using it.
“The blockade will begin soon. Other countries will be involved in this blockade,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
However, NATO allies, including United Kingdom and France, have made clear they will not be drawn into the conflict by participating in the blockade. Instead, they are working on an initiative to reopen the waterway, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies typically pass.
Their refusal marks another point of friction with Trump, who has threatened to withdraw from the alliance and is considering pulling some U.S. troops out of Europe after several countries denied American military aircraft access to their airspace for strikes against Iran.
