The Hormuz gamble: Trump’s coalition dream and its hard realities
Gap between Trump’s claims and silence of the countries he is counting on speaks volumes about limits of pressure-based multilateralism
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THE Strait of Hormuz blockade is now the most urgent and revealing test of US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy in his second term.
Since Iran effectively closed the strait in response to US and Israeli strikes, a blockade that has sent oil prices soaring past US$100 a barrel, the Trump administration has scrambled to respond. The strategy has taken a familiar shape: maximalist rhetoric, bilateral pressure and an appeal for a grand multilateral coalition. Whether it can work is another matter entirely.
The coalition gambit
Trump posted on Truth Social that “many countries, especially those affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending warships”, listing China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and “others” among the nations he hoped would contribute.
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