Photographer: David Hecker/Getty Images
(Bloomberg) — US allies deflected President Donald Trump’s demands to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, expressing unease about getting pulled into the war in Iran.
In Brussels, European Union foreign ministers stressed that they did not want to escalate the war, refusing to extend a Red Sea naval mission to help defend the vital passage for energy shipments. In Japan, officials said there were no plans to dispatch ships to escort stalled tankers. The UK similarly wouldn’t commit to a full naval mission, even as Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he’d explore options with allies.
Most Read from Bloomberg
“We will not be drawn into the wider war,” Starmer said Monday during a press conference in London. “Ultimately we have to open the Strait of Hormuz. That is not a simple task.”
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel was more blunt: “Blackmail is not what I wish for.”
The responses amounted to a rebuttal of Trump, who on Sunday insisted that his allies in NATO and Asia help get oil and gas shipments moving through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the US and Israel attacked Iran. Roughly one fifth of the world’s oil moves through the narrow passage.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says European Union nations should consider US President Donald Trump’s request for help to secure the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial oil route which has been effectively blocked by Iran. He speaks to Bloomberg’s Oliver Crook in Brussels.Source: Bloomberg
The blockade has sent energy prices soaring, leaving governments worried about inflation, economic slowdowns and even food supply disruptions. But on Monday, officials were also cautious about aiding Trump’s operations, which have prompted Tehran to spray missiles and drones across the region.
“We must not do anything that adds even more tension or escalation,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in Brussels. “What we need is for the bombings and the missile launches against all countries in the Middle East to stop, and for us to return to the negotiating table.”
Trump directly called out his North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in an interview with the Financial Times, warning that the military alliance would have a “very bad future” if its members don’t aid the US in Iran. The president’s renewed attacks on the transatlantic organization received a tepid response from European officials on Monday.
“I don’t see that NATO has decided anything in this direction or could be made responsible for the Strait of Hormuz,” said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, speaking before an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
Story Continues
Bettel cautioned that NATO is there to react when members are attacked, not for all defensive or military requests.
“I want to remind that none of us has been directly attacked,” he said. “There are no grounds for now to invoke Article 5,” he added, referencing the alliance’s collective defense clause.
Some were still willing to at least hear Trump out if he presents NATO with a plan.
“We have to look into it and consider it,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told Bloomberg TV in an interview in Brussels. “I would look for the in-depth debate within NATO.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski agreed: “If there is a request with NATO to discuss the issue, we will of course consider it out of respect and sympathy for our allies.”
The UK is also exploring whether it could help by deploying autonomous mine-hunting drones alongside other US allies, according to people familiar with the matter, even as it has no plans to joint a full naval mission to secure the Strait while the war is ongoing.
“We are working with all of our allies including our European partners to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible,” Starmer said. However, he warned that deploying naval assets was “not easy” and “not straight-forward.”
A NATO official told Bloomberg that allies have already offered more security for the Mediterranean, adding that individual allies were talking with the US and others about what else they could do, including for the Strait of Hormuz.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was one of the few voices early on Monday encouraging the bloc to redirect regional resources to the Strait of Hormuz. Specifically, she suggested member states consider expanding their Aspides naval mission, which was originally launched in 2024 after the Houthis attacked shipping vessels in the nearby Red Sea.
But by Monday evening, even she had conceded no one wanted to dispatch Aspides vessels to protect the Strait, which would require unanimous approval from member states.
WATCH: EU Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas says there is no appetite to extend the EU maritime mission in the Red Sea to include the Strait of Hormuz.Source: Bloomberg
“There was in our discussion a clear wish to strengthen our operation, but for the time being there was no appetite to change the mandate,” she told reporters after meeting with EU foreign ministers.
Germany expressed its opposition to shifting the EU naval mission before foreign ministers even met. In an interview with ARD on Sunday, Wadephul said he was “very skeptical that expanding the Aspides mission in the Strait of Hormuz would lead to greater security.”
Italy, which has one ship deployed to the Aspides mission, similarly opposed shifting the strategy.
“The Red Sea mission needs to be strengthened within the Red Sea, but changing it is complicated,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Monday. “We think that for now, it is right it stays in the Red Sea.”
Even if EU countries won’t redirect Aspides vessels, they still may commit more assets to the region. Already, France has sent two extra vessels to bolster Aspides.
Countries are also exploring a potential “coalition of the willing” operation for the region, Kallas said earlier on Monday.
That said, Kallas stressed later, this is not Europe’s war to fight.
“Europe is not part of this war, we have not started this war and the political objectives are unclear,” she said.
–With assistance from Max Ramsay, Katharina Rosskopf, Joe Mayes, Oliver Crook and Daniel Basteiro.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.