Who will help Trump in the Strait of Hormuz? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube. I'm joined by the BBC's. diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams. Paul, President Trump is putting huge. pressure on NATO allies to help him. reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and. gas tankers, but those NATO allies don't. appear to be rushing forward to help. They're not, and I suppose if you. consider the recent history of Donald. Trump's relationship with other NATO. members, perhaps it's understandable. It. was only a few weeks ago that he was.

threatening to take over the sovereign. territory of another NATO member in the. whole Greenland crisis. That was a crisis that passed, but you. know, this is a president who has made. something of a specialty of criticizing. NATO members. And here is a situation. where he and Israel have started a war. That war has become complicated. He has been rather disparaging about the. capabilities of other NATO members. In.

fact, it was only a week or so ago that. he was telling Britain that he didn't. need any British ships. to go and help with a war that had. already been won. Now he's turned around. and says he wants help from frankly. anyone who's willing to give it. I think. this is causing a lot of raised. eyebrows. You had the former chief of. the British defense staff saying that. that NATO was a defensive alliance. It. was never set up to come to the. assistance of someone who had started a.

war of choice. I think that pretty much. sums up the attitude of many NATO. members. Of course, they have a problem. though, which is they may not like the. fact of this war. They may not have a. particularly warm feeling towards the. man who started it, but there's a big. problem, and that is the freedom of. navigation through one of the world's. most important waterways, and that needs. to to fixed. Yeah, Donald Trump has said things could. be very bad for NATO if its members.

don't help. What pressure points could. he hit there? Look, this is fairly typical Trumpian. rhetoric. and I don't think we should necessarily. assume that he is leveling specific. threats at NATO. if if countries don't bend to his will. This is very characteristic of the way. he tries to bully people into doing what. he wants. There is always the fear that. the Americans could simply walk away. from NATO.

and that the the northern Atlantic. Alliance will will no longer be in the. future what it has been for all these. recent decades and that America might. not come to the assistance of Europe in. the event of future threats from. whatever quarter, whether it's Russia or. or anyone else. But I think, you know, as I say, this is how Donald Trump. operates. It's how he speaks. And he is clearly voicing his. frustration. with countries who are recoiling.

somewhat in horror. from what he and Israel have unleashed. Yes, what are they saying? Let's take it sort of one by one. Britain. in in the in the form of the Prime. Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is saying. that. this is a problem that does urgently. need to be fixed. That the best way to. solve the problem of the freedom of. navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. is for a de-escalation. But we're not. seeing a de-escalation at the moment and. with Israeli and American officials. talking about this going on for at least.

a few more weeks, there isn't a. de-escalation in sight at the moment. But in the meantime, what Sir Keir. Starmer is saying is that Britain could. well be willing to help with some new. technology, a relatively untested. technology involving drones that are. capable of detecting and dealing with. mines. France's President, Emmanuel. Macron, has spoken in the past and a. week or so ago about being willing to. send French ships to help in some kind. of escort operation through the Strait. of Hormuz, but the French seem to have.

gone a little bit cold on this at the. moment. The Germans are saying frankly, "No, we're not going to be part of. that.". So, we are not seeing a particularly. speedy and enthusiastic response. from NATO partners. The Spanish and the. Italians are also pretty leery about. this. I think, you know, they they they all. know that at the moment this represents. an extremely. risky operation fraught with all sorts. of dangers. We don't know exactly what.

those dangers are. It could be mines. already laid in the in the Strait of. Hormuz, although at the moment there's. no particular evidence of that, but it. all it could also come in the form. of Iranian fast boats, missiles fired from the shore, but there. are all kinds of dangers which frankly. uh very few countries are willing to. expose their navies and their personnel. to without some kind of clear plan.

Yes, and I heard one European voice. saying, "What could a few European. frigates do in the Strait of Hormuz that. couldn't be done by the might of the US. military?" And he's got a point, hasn't. he? Yeah, that was indeed the the German. defense minister Pistorius. He does have. a point. I mean, you know, in a situation like this, this. will be a complex operation. It needs. many many assets. It needs warships. It. needs anti-drone technology. It needs.

aerial assets. It needs a very elaborate. plan to deal with this, you know, wide. array array of possible threats that. could emerge in the course of an. operation like that. And so, the. Americans. clearly would like to see other. countries that have, you know, sometimes. quite niche capabilities offering those, and not, of course, just for the. hardware itself, but also for the image.

that it presents at the moment as one of. the belligerents in this war. For this. to be a purely American operation would. be fraught with all kinds of diplomatic. difficulty, and frankly, would they. would those vessels, those assets would. be seen American assets would be seen as. part of the belligerent forces, and. would be a natural target for the. Iranians. If the Americans can. successfully internationalize this. operation, then some of that issue can. be addressed. But that is a very big ask.

at the moment, and as we are seeing. today, there aren't that many takers. And to. that end, Donald Trump has also called. on various Asian countries to consider. sending warships for this operation, Korea, China. What incentive might there. be for Korea and China to do this? Well, there is the need, the global need to. reopen. a waterway that is that accounts for.

something like 20% of the world's oil. exports. Now, China is an interesting. case in point here. If you look at the. the the tankers that have successfully. exited the strait through the Strait of. Hormuz in the last couple of weeks, at. least a couple of them, perhaps more, have been Chinese. That is because they. are carrying Iranian oil, and they are. being allowed through by Iran. unmolested. The same goes for a couple. of vessels from India, which has been.

carrying out its holding its own. negotiations with the Iranians. I think. there's also been a Pakistani vessel. bound for Pakistan, which has also. passed through unmolested. I mean, the. point that the Iranians are making is. the Strait of Hormuz isn't closed. Uh it it is open to countries who are. willing to discuss and negotiate with. Iran. Now, of course, that uh means that. uh Western vessels, any particularly any. vessels with any kind of American. association, but frankly, any Western. vessels.

uh are are do run the risk of being. targeted. But, China is getting uh some. of the oil that it needs. Uh other. countries uh South Korea and Japan would. have a need, but we're not seeing any. uh. real enthusiasm from there, either. I'm. looking at a comment from the Japanese. Prime Minister who says that uh her. country has no plans to send ships to. the Gulf. I think they probably fall. into the camp of those who believe that. that this is a a a crisis of Israel and.

America's making, and that more needs to. be seen to be done to resolve it. diplomatically. before anyone starts talking about. sending vessels and crews into harm's. way. Because presumably, if any country did. send one of its vessels into the Strait. of Hormuz and. something were to happen to it, the. well, the political consequences for. that leader would be enormous. Oh, horrendous. No leader, no Prime Minister. or President wants to be responsible for.

seeing one of their precious ships go. down with a with a loss of life. There. is no abundance of goodwill, should we. put it that way, towards Donald Trump, a. man who has made the lives of his. uh many of of America's many allies that. much more complicated than they were. before he came into office, whether it's. uh to do with the war in Ukraine, whether it's to do with uh NATO, Greenland, a host of issues uh over.

which the his allies have found. themselves squirming in discomfort. uh often publicly humiliated sometimes. to their faces. uh by Donald Trump. Now he is turning around and he is. asking those people for help. Uh. it is not a great situation to be in, but I do emphasize this is a crisis, the. crisis of uh passage of uh of ships. through the Strait of Hormuz that.

demands a solution. And so whether or. not people like Donald Trump uh they. they I think all know that this is a. problem that has to be fixed and it. probably can't be fixed by America. alone. Thanks, Paul. The BBC's Paul Adams. To. hear more from the BBC's Global News. Podcast, do click the link below. Thanks. for joining us.