U.S. asks for help with opening Strait of Hormuz while Trump attacks allies

After President Donald Trump suggested the United States did not need help reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the administration launched a new effort to get allies to help ships navigate the critical passage blocked by Iran.

Subscribe to read this story ad-free

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

According to an internal memo seen by NBC News, the State Department is seeking to create a new coalition called “Maritime Freedom Construct.”

The coalition would be a joint initiative with the Pentagon to share information among partners for safe transit across the Strait and to coordinate diplomatic and economic actions against Iran, according to the memo sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts.

The effort is the Trump administration’s latest attempt to wrest control of the Strait from Iran as global energy prices soar, diplomatic efforts stall and the standoff over the Strait’s future continues with no foreseeable end.

Iran began blocking the entry of ships into the Strait of Hormuz shortly after the United States and Israel began their bombing campaign on February 28. After first asking his allies for help, Trump then said the strait was not his problem and that U.S. allies should find access themselves.

Since then, energy prices have reached a four-year high and Trump’s approval rating has plummeted, according to a recent NBC News poll.

There is no real incentive to join the international coalition launched by the United States; The war took many of America’s allies by surprise and they did not want to get involved in it. The president has increasingly attacked and berated NATO allies, once again pledging to reevaluate membership in the transatlantic alliance based on its resistance to conflict.

“We have received no help, no help from NATO,” Trump said during a speech in Florida on Friday. “You know, we spent billions of dollars at NATO. We didn’t get any help.”

On Friday, Pentagon officials announced that the United States was withdrawing about 5,000 troops from Germany after Trump became angered by the German chancellor’s criticism of the war with Iran.

The decision was a direct response to comments from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but also reflected Trump’s frustration that U.S. allies are not doing enough, according to a senior Pentagon official.

On Thursday evening, Trump suggested he would also withdraw troops from Italy and Spain.

“Why not me? Italy has been no help to us and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible,” Trump told reporters.

A temporary ceasefire went into effect on April 8 to allow the United States and Iran to negotiate an end to the war and the reopening of the strait, but the talks yielded no results. The United States launched a naval blockade of Iranian ports in the strait and blocked at least 41 ships.

The next steps are unclear, but a White House official told NBC News that Trump’s planned mid-May trip to China, a country with ties to Iran, is among the factors contributing to his decision-making process.

Her visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which had already been postponed once due to the war in Iran, is a “priority” and the White House really doesn’t want to move her again, according to NBC News.

The State Department memo asks diplomats to present the multinational coordinating body to foreign officials by Friday and to assure allies and partners that “all levels of engagement are welcome.”

While the Trump administration previously encouraged other allies and nations to take the lead in creating similar coordinating bodies, this new U.S.-led coalition aims to “fill currently unfilled gaps” and would be “complementary to other maritime security working groups, including the U.K.-French-led maritime planning effort,” according to the memo.

“We look forward to establishing communication channels with the United Kingdom and France to de-escalate conflicts and closely coordinate these efforts,” the cable said. “The MFC will remain structurally independent, although we seek close collaboration to achieve the strongest possible maritime security architecture.”

The State Department-led component would serve as a center of diplomatic operations for allies, partners and the commercial shipping industry. It would also provide a platform to coordinate joint actions, including “economic measures designed to impose costs on Iran in the event of disruption to maritime security”, while US Central Command would coordinate maritime traffic in real time and communicate directly with ships transiting the strait.

The State Department declined to provide a list of countries likely to join the U.S.-led group, but diplomatic posts were asked not to contact “adversaries of the United States, including Russia, China, Belarus and Cuba.”

The cable first reported by the Wall Street Journal also made clear that “any future maritime construction must exclude Iranian participation.”

“We invite your country to join the MFC as a diplomatic and/or military partner in this crucial initiative,” reads one of the suggested discussion points for diplomats. “Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy.”