{"id":554050,"date":"2026-03-21T02:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554050\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T02:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:39:10","slug":"donald-trump-very-surprised-australia-declined-to-send-troops-to-strait-of-hormuz-amid-fuel-crisis-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554050\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump \u2018very surprised\u2019 Australia declined to send troops to strait of Hormuz amid fuel crisis | Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump says he is \u201cvery surprised\u201d Australia has not sent warships to aid in opening the strait of Hormuz as the blockade of the key strategic route for global oil supply continues to affect fuel prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very surprised,\u201d the US president said in Washington on Friday when asked what he took issue with regarding Japan, South Korea and Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, they should get involved, and I was a little bit surprised that they said no, because we always say yes to them,\u201d he told Sky News Australia.<\/p>\n

Trump did not answer when asked what Australia had said no to.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Trump slammed Japan, Australia and South Korea<\/a> for saying they would not be sending warships to the Gulf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States has been informed by most of our NATO \u2018Allies\u2019 that they don\u2019t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East,\u201d he said in a Truth Social post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe no longer \u2018need\u2019 or desire, the NATO Countries\u2019 assistance \u2013 WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on Friday, the president lashed out at Nato, describing alliance members as \u201ccowards\u201d<\/a> for not wanting \u201cto help open\u201d the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Australia\u2019s foreign minister, Penny Wong, discussed Iran\u2019s deliberate attacks on merchant vessels in and around the strait of Hormuz and how those actions had triggered severe global energy shocks with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agreed that the international community must keep working together to ensure critical waterways are not held hostage by the Iranian regime,\u201d she said in a statement after the call. \u201cAustralia does not want to see the conflict continue to escalate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

The globally important shipping lanes between Oman and Iran have been closed since shortly after the latest Middle Eastern conflict began three weeks ago, sending shock waves through fuel markets.<\/p>\n

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned the conflict, prompted by US-Israel strikes on Iran in February, is the \u201cgreatest threat to global energy supply in the history of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Customers across Australia are seeing its effects, with surging prices at petrol stations, including one regional New South Wales fuel retailer this week charging $3.39 a litre for both unleaded petrol and diesel and, in Sydney, reports of diesel prices above $3 a litre.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, praised the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission\u2019s urgent interim authorisation on fuel supply, which allows companies to discuss, exchange information about and coordinate fuel supply across Australia as a \u201cdecisive action to \u2026 keep fuel flowing to where it\u2019s most needed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The authorisation does not enable fuel suppliers to share information about pricing, the ACCC said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that the big players in the fuel markets don\u2019t treat this as a chance to disadvantage the independents who play a vital role including in regional Australia,\u201d Chalmers said, adding that \u201canyone breaking the rules must have the book thrown at them\u201d.<\/p>\n

To counter escalating costs, DoorDash on Saturday announced a temporary fuel relief program, acknowledging the \u201csignificant challenge\u201d of rising fuel costs for its drivers.<\/p>\n

Cash relief will be given to drivers who complete 100km or more in deliveries per week, the costs of which will not be passed on to customers.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Uber announced it would raise prices to strike \u201cthe right balance between supporting strong earning opportunities for driver partners while continuing to offer reliable, affordable options for riders\u201d.<\/p>\n

The rideshare company said the hike would increase driver earnings by an average 6% across Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know operating costs, including fuel, remain front of mind for many driver partners, making continued support more important than ever,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Its competitor, DiDi, raised prices earlier this week<\/a>, with customers across Australia now paying an extra 5c per kilometre.<\/p>\n

In a report released on Friday, the IEA said the resumption of transit through the strait of Hormuz was the \u201csingle most important action to return to stable oil and gas flows\u201d and encouraged governments, businesses and households to avoid unnecessary air travel, work from home and reduce road speed limits in a bid to shelter from oil shocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump says he is \u201cvery surprised\u201d Australia has not sent warships to aid in opening the strait…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-554050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}