Trump again pressures allies to send forces to Hormuz: "Countries using the strait must take responsibility"

[Financial News] United States President Donald Trump, who has demanded that the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and others send forces to the Strait of Hormuz, again pressed for deployments on the 18th (local time). After saying he did not need help from allies because of their lukewarm response, he reversed himself in just one day and raised the issue of "responsibility."
Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that day, saying, "I wonder what would happen if we wiped out the remnants of the terrorist state, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and made the countries that use that strait take responsibility for it." He went on to argue, "Then some of our unresponsive allies would start moving in a hurry."
Since the 28th of last month, Trump has been carrying out attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran together with Israel. When Iran moved to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil shipments, he pressured countries that import oil through the strait to dispatch naval vessels for escort duties. On the 14th, he called on five countries — the ROK, People’s Republic of China (China), Japan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and France — to send forces, and he repeated the same demand on the 16th. Trump criticized European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after they effectively refused to deploy forces. On the 17th, he wrote on Truth Social, "We have already achieved considerable military success, so we neither need nor want further support from NATO member states," adding, "We have never needed it, and the same goes for Japan, Australia or the ROK."
On the 18th, Trump also shared on his Truth Social account an editorial from the New York Post titled, "America’s allies must wake up and help keep the Strait of Hormuz open."
Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), said on the 18th in a podcast hosted by another Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), that unlike European countries, the ROK and Japan would find it difficult to reject Trump’s demands. "Unfortunately, I don’t think Japan and the ROK are in a position where they can simply say ‘no’," he noted.
Cooper added, "I think the answer probably has to be ‘yes’, but if you ask, ‘Do you think Japan will send minesweepers for mine-clearing operations?’ the answer is ‘absolutely not.’ Moreover, European countries are clearly signaling that they will not take part, aren’t they?" He then stated, "I believe Japan and the ROK will have to provide some level of contribution."

pjw@fnnews.com Reporter Park Jong-won Reporter