WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV/DUBAI: Several US allies rebuffed Donald Trump’s call on Monday to send warships to escort shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, drawing criticism from the US president, who accused Western partners of ingratitude after decades of support.
The US-Israeli war on Iran is in its third week with no end in sight, largely shutting the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flow, raising energy prices and fears of inflation.
Israel said on Monday it had drawn up detailed plans for at least three more weeks of war as it pounded sites across Iran overnight, while Iranian drone attacks temporarily shut Dubai airport and hit a key oil facility in the United Arab Emirates.
A number of US partners including Germany, Spain and Italy said they had no immediate plans to send ships to help reopen the strategic waterway, which Iran has effectively shut with drones and naval mines.
“We lack the mandate from the United Nations, the European Union or NATO required under the Basic Law,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Berlin, adding that Washington and Israel had not consulted Germany before launching the war:
“That is why the question of how Germany might become militarily involved here does not arise.” Trump, speaking at a news conference in Washington, said many countries had told him they were prepared to help, but voiced frustration with some long-standing allies hosting large numbers of US troops:
“Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm matters to me.”
Israel still has ‘thousands’ of targets in Iran
Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters there were detailed operational plans for the next three weeks in Iran, and other plans extending further.
Israel has said it wants to weaken Iran’s capacity to threaten it, striking ballistic missile infrastructure, nuclear facilities and the security apparatus, and that it still has thousands of targets to hit.
“We want to make sure that they are as weak as possible, this regime, and that we degrade all their capabilities, all parts and all wings of their security establishment,” Shoshani said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it would target US industrial facilities in the Middle East and urged people living near US-owned plants to leave.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran had not asked for a ceasefire or exchanged messages with the US, according to Iran’s semi-official Student News Network.
In a post on X, Araqchi also said that some “neighbouring states” that host US forces and permit attacks on Iran were also actively encouraging the killing of Iranians.
He said 200 children were among the hundreds of Iranian civilians killed in US or Israeli bombings. Iran’s Mehr news agency said five people had been killed and seven wounded in overnight strikes on Markazi province in central Iran. Fars News Agency reported that several civilians had been killed in a strike near Tehran’s Martyrs’ Square, without giving figures. Rescue workers in Tehran worked to pull people from the wreckage of a building in what an Iranian Red Crescent aid worker said was an entirely residential alleyway.
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