Donald Trump warns Nato faces 'very bad future' if allies fail to help US in Iran

Donald Trump has warned that Nato faces a “very bad” future if US allies fail to assist in opening up the Strait of Hormuz, sending a blunt message to European nations to join his war effort in Iran.

The US president told the FT in an interview on Sunday that he could also delay his summit with China’s President Xi Jinping later this month as he presses Beijing to help unblock the crucial waterway.

“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said, arguing that Europe and China are heavily dependent on oil from the Gulf, unlike 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,” he added.

Trump’s comments, made in an eight-minute phone call with the FT, came a day after he appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK to join a “team effort” to open up the chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes.

Iran in effect shut the strait after the US and Israel launched their war more than two weeks ago, sparking fears of a new oil price shock for the global economy. US efforts to open the waterway have largely failed. International oil prices hit $106 a barrel on Sunday evening, up about 45 per cent since the start of the war.

Despite his warning, Trump was pessimistic that US allies would heed his pleas for help.

“We have a thing called Nato,” said Trump, who has often criticised the alliance. “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. 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.”

Asked to specify the help he needed, Trump said “whatever it takes”. He added that allies should send minesweepers, of which Europe possesses many more than the US.

He also wanted “people who are going to knock out some bad actors that are along the [Iranian] shore”. Trump implied he wanted European commando teams or other military help to eliminate Iranians making “a nuisance” in the Gulf with drones and naval mines.

“We’re hitting them very hard,” Trump said. “They’ve got nothing left but to make a little trouble in the Strait but these people are beneficiaries and they ought to help us police it. We’ll help them. But they should also be there. You sort of need a lot of people to watch over a few.”

Trump said he was also expecting China to help unblock the strait before he travels to Beijing at the end of this month for a summit with Xi Jinping, his first trip to China in his second term.