Donald Trump sparked backlash Sunday for suggesting that US efforts to protect the Strait of Hormuz were unnecessary and that “maybe we shouldn’t even be there” because his country has so much oil of its own.
The president made the contradictory comment to reporters on Air Force One after pleading with European and NATO allies to enter the war against Iran to help the United States secure the strait amid the largest oil supply disruption in history.
“I’m really demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it’s their territory,” he said.
“They should come and help us protect it. You could argue that maybe we shouldn’t even be there, because we don’t need it. We have a lot of oil. We are the number one producer in the entire world, times two.”
Trump came under fire in the early stages of the three-week war between the United States and Israel in Iran for failing to convey clear reasons for launching military strikes. He has since made a series of antithetical statements, including telling the United Kingdom, which he called “a great ally,” that its help was not needed in Operation Epic Fury.
His comment on Sunday was similarly questioned in an immediate backlash on social media from critics who accused him of starting an unnecessary war and then demanded that others intervene to help him end it.
One post referred to the families of the 13 US service members killed in the conflict as of Sunday – and how they might react to the president’s suggestion that they “shouldn’t even be there.”
The cousin of Tech Sergeant Tyler Simmons, one of six airmen who died when a U.S. refueling tanker crashed last week, told Ohio ABC News affiliate WCMH that the family was experiencing “the worst nightmare we could ever imagine.”
“This could have been avoided,” Stephan Douglas said in an interview before Trump made his comments Sunday night. “We didn’t need to be in this war. This isn’t necessary and this is what we get.”
Separately, an editor at the progressive outlet MeidasTouch reposted a response to the video of Trump’s “shouldn’t even be there” comment that read, “Sorry, what was that?”
Trump spoke on the same day he reversed his previous position on foreign assistance and increased pressure on a host of other countries to get involved in defending the Strait.
Australia, France and Japan are among countries that have said they have no plans to send warships. Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, said on Monday he was working with European allies on “a workable plan” to reopen the strait, but insisted the country “will not be drawn into a wider war”.
Xavier Bettel, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, said his country would not give in to “blackmail” from the United States.
Meeting with reporters on Sunday, as the president returned to Washington after a weekend at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, Trump suggested that the U.S. effort to secure the strait was for the benefit of other countries.
“It’s almost like we do it out of habit, but we also do it because of some very good allies we have in the Middle East,” he said.
Trump has said he was talking to several countries he believed would help, but he did not identify them. In an earlier social media post, he said he expected China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others to participate.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, his tone was more threatening, warning that NATO faces a “very bad” future if it does not help the United States protect the strait from Iranian attacks.
He also told the newspaper that he “might delay” traveling to a summit with Xi Jinping, China’s president, this week until he knew whether China, an ally of Iran, would help.
