US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, though his appeals have brought no commitments as oil prices soar during the Iran war.
While noting that Israel has been working with the United States to secure the waterway where about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil normally flows, the president declined to name the countries heavily reliant on Middle East crude that the administration is negotiating with to join a coalition to police the strait.
“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Trump said about the strait, claiming the shipping channel is not something the United States needs because of its own access to oil. Trump spoke while answering reporters’ questions as he flew back to Washington from Florida aboard Air Force One.
Trump said China gets about 90 percent of its oil from the strait, while the US gets a minimal amount. He declined to discuss whether China will join the coalition.
“It would be nice to have other countries police that with us, and we’ll help. We’ll work with them,” Trump said. Previously, he has appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea and Britain.
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US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC earlier Sunday that he has been “in dialogue” with some of the countries Trump had mentioned previously, and said he expected China “will be a constructive partner” in reopening the strait.
Escalating his rhetoric in an interview with the Financial Times, Trump warned that NATO faced a “very bad” future if US allies fail to assist in opening up the shipping route, and suggested he could delay his summit with China’s President Xi Jinping later this month.
“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump told the British newspaper.
A person points at a page on the Marinetraffic website that shows commercial boats traffic on the edge of the Strait of Hormuz near the Iranian coast, in Paris on March 4, 2026. (JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
Both The Wall Street Journal and Axios reported that Trump was planning to announce the formation of such a multinational coalition as early as this week. Axios added, citing unnamed US officials, that Trump was also mulling the option of seizing Iran’s key oil depot on Kharg Island — which the US bombed over the weekend — if Tehran continues to deny oil tankers passage through the strait, a move that would require American boots on the ground.
Countries are cautious after Trump’s call
But despite Trump’s intense lobbying over the past few days, countries have made no public promises to join a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
Britain said Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday discussed with Trump the importance of reopening the strait “to end the disruption to global shipping,” and spoke with Canada’s prime minister about it separately.
Aboard Air Force One, Trump specifically named Starmer, who he said initially declined to put British aircraft carriers “into harm’s way.”
“Whether we get support or not, but I can say this, and I said to them: We will remember,” Trump said.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One, March 15, 2026, en route from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A spokesperson for China’s embassy to the US, Liu Pengyu, said previously that “all parties have the responsibility to ensure stable and unimpeded energy supply” and that China would “strengthen communication with relevant parties” for de-escalation.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it “takes note” of Trump’s call and that it “will closely coordinate and carefully review” the situation with the US.
Expectations are high that Trump will ask Japan directly when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets him on Thursday at the White House. But Takaichi said Monday that any maritime security operation would be “extremely difficult legally,” and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told parliament that “in the current Iran situation, we are not at the moment considering issuing a maritime security operation.”
France previously said it is working with countries — President Emmanuel Macron mentioned partners in Europe, India and Asia — on a possible international mission to escort ships through the strait, but has stressed it must be when “the circumstances permit,” when fighting has subsided.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of Germany, which was not mentioned in Trump’s call, told ARD television: “Will we soon be an active part of this conflict? No.”
This handout photo taken on March 11, 2026 and released by the Royal Thai Navy shows smoke rising from the Thai bulk carrier ‘Mayuree Naree’ near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack. (ROYAL THAI NAVY / AFP)
And Australia’s Transport Minister Catherine King told national broadcaster ABC Monday: “We won’t be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz. We know how incredibly important that is but that’s not something we’ve been asked or we’re contributing to.”
US officials predict war’s end within weeks
US officials responding to economic uncertainty over high oil prices predicted on Sunday that the war on Iran would end within weeks and that a drop in energy costs would follow, despite Iran’s assertion that it remains “stable and strong” and ready to defend itself.
With crude oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, Trump administration officials insisted Sunday that all signs point to a relatively quick end to the conflict.
“This conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks — could be sooner than that,” US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC’s “This Week” program.
Trump himself, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, did not put a timeframe on concluding the war but said oil prices “are going to come tumbling down as soon as it’s over, and it’s going to be over pretty quick.”
But the US president said he saw no reason to declare victory yet.
“I think I just say they’re decimated.” Trump told reporters. “If we left right now, it would take them 10 years or more to rebuild, but I’m still not declaring it over.”
He added that Washington has been in contact with Iran, but expressed doubt that Tehran is prepared for serious negotiations to end the conflict.
“I don’t think they are ready,” he said.
Iranians gather in front of destroyed buildings following a military strike on the Iranian capital Tehran on March 15, 2026. (Atta KENARE / AFP) /
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier told CBS that Tehran has been “approached by a number of countries” seeking safe passage for their vessels, “and this is up to our military to decide.” He said a group of vessels from “different countries” had been allowed to pass, without providing details.
Iran has said the strait is open to all except the United States and its allies.
Araghchi added that “we don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans” about finding a way to end the war, noting that Israel and the US started the fighting with coordinated attacks on February 28 during indirect US-Iran talks on Iran’s nuclear program. He also said Tehran had “no plan to recover” the enriched uranium that is under rubble following US and Israeli attacks last year.
Meanwhile, emergency oil stocks “will soon start flowing to global markets,” the International Energy Agency said Sunday, describing the collective action to lower prices “by far the largest ever.”
It updated last week’s announcement of 400 million barrels to nearly 412 million. Asian member countries plan to release stocks “immediately,” and reserves from Europe and the Americas will be released “from the end of March.”
Trump didn’t directly answer whether his administration is talking about selling oil futures as a way to cap surging oil prices.
“The prices are going to come tumbling down as soon as it’s over. And it’s going to be over pretty quickly,” he told reporters.