(Bloomberg) — US President Donald Trump abandoned his effort to recruit partners for the war with Iran and scolded allies who openly rejected his appeals, even as he repeated claims the conflict would end soon.
The US and Israel nonetheless kept up their attacks with little clarity on when operations would end, with Israel saying it had killed Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, in an overnight operation. Trump threatened to expand strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s main export hub, while Gulf countries continued to face attacks from Iran-sent drones.
Larijani’s death marks one of the most high-profile killings of an Iranian official since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war. Iranian state media confirmed the death of Larijani, a key pillar of the country’s wartime leadership, though didn’t give any details about the circumstances.
Yet as the conflict continued, there was little sign that European and Asian nations planned to heed Trump’s call to join the fray, even in more limited roles confined to attempting to end the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The near shutdown of the key shipping lane has wreaked havoc on global energy markets and kept oil hovering around $100 a barrel.
Germany, France, Canada, Greece and Norway are among those that have explicitly ruled out participating in the US-Israeli operations. Their refusals have exposed the consequences of Trump’s cavalier approach toward the US’s longstanding alliances. Trump also called out Japan, Australia and South Korea in a social media post earlier Tuesday that stated the US didn’t need the help of anyone.
The US president on Tuesday scolded NATO allies in particular, denouncing their “foolish mistake” not to get involved. “I’ve long said I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us,” Trump said at the White House. “This was a great test because we don’t need them, but they should have been there.”
Trump also sought to drive home his stated reasons for starting the war, citing the need to disarm a potent nuclear threat and claiming, without providing evidence, that Iran was just two weeks away from acquiring a weapon that they would have used “very gladly.”
He also sent more mixed signals about when the US would wind down major military operations, saying “we’re not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the near future.”
Tehran maintained retaliatory fire around the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among nations reporting they had intercepted drones and missiles overnight.
Iran set a massive natural gas field in the UAE ablaze Monday as it stepped up attacks on key energy sites, the first time the Islamic Republic has damaged an oil or gas upstream facility in the neighboring country during the war.
At the same time, Iran has moved to secure an effective veto power over which ships transit the Strait of Hormuz, with some ships transiting the chokepoint by tracking close to the Iranian coast. Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said in a social media post that the strait “won’t return to its pre-war status.”
Iran has attacked about 20 vessels in the Persian Gulf and near Hormuz since the conflict began. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait have all reduced oil output as a result of the blockage. Qatar, a top three supplier of liquefied natural gas, has shut down production of the fuel.
A trickle of vessels are still using Hormuz, most of them bound for countries such as China and India. The prices of LNG, fertilizers, aluminum and other commodities have increased sharply since the start of the war.
When asked on Tuesday when cargo ships would be able to pass through the vital waterway again, Trump said “it won’t be, I don’t believe, too long.”
Yet even as Trump projected confidence, the conflict continues to snarl other priorities on his agenda.
Trump said Tuesday that an upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping would instead take place in five or six weeks because he wants to stay in Washington to focus on the war. China is among the countries Trump has appealed to, so far unsuccessfully, for naval support.
That decision came amid growing opposition to the war at home, including among some of his own supporters. Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official, announced he is resigning in protest of the war, arguing that Israel had dragged the US into the conflict.
Asked about the resignation, Trump on Tuesday countered that Iran indeed had been a threat. He said Kent was “a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security.”
US gasoline prices have soared in recent weeks, rising to around $3.79 according to the American Automobile Association, piling pressure on the administration ahead of the November midterm elections.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Tuesday that the US’s expectation is still for a “four-to-six week operation,” while acknowledging that a longer war could “hurt consumers”.
Trump this week had stepped up his appeals for help — from both allies and China — to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
No government has publicly said it will send warships to escort commercial vessels through Hormuz, though the UAE suggested it was willing to help play a role alongside other countries in securing the strait. Many military analysts have said that, without a ceasefire, it would be dangerous to send ships through the strait even with armed escorts.
Japan, whose prime minister is set to visit the White House on Thursday, has said it is exploring the legal implications of the US effort while also indicating that the US hadn’t made a specific demand to send ships to the Middle East.
In parallel with the war in Iran, Israel has stepped up an offensive in Lebanon, where it’s fighting the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Trump on Monday said that “Hezbollah’s a big problem, and they’re rapidly being eliminated,” confirming that he’d discussed the situation in Lebanon with Israeli leaders.
The United Nations has repeatedly called for an end to the escalating conflict and noted Tuesday that targeting countries in the Gulf runs against recently passed Security Council resolutions. Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general, said “diplomacy must prevail.”
More than 4,000 people have been killed across the Middle East in the war so far, according to tolls from governments and non-governmental organizations. The US has lost 13 military personnel.
–With assistance from Laura Davison, John Bowker, Magdalena Del Valle, Mia Gindis, Courtney Subramanian, Justin Sink, Meghashyam Mali, Romy Varghese and Rocio Fabbro.
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