Trump calls for international naval mission to keep Strait of Hormuz open

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that several countries could send warships to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open, as tensions with Iran continue to threaten the key global shipping route.

In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump said many nations affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the strait would deploy naval vessels alongside the United States to ensure the passage remains “open and safe”. He did not give details about which countries had agreed to participate.

Trump said he hoped that China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom would send ships to the area.

The US president also said that “one way or the other” the United States would ensure the strait becomes “open, safe and free”. In the meantime, he wrote that US forces would continue military operations against Iranian positions and vessels in the region.

Iran rejected Trump’s claims that its military capabilities had been eliminated. Tehran’s representative in Geneva, Ali Bahrani, said the statements were “based on fabricated lies”.

The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial maritime corridor linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. Around 20% of the world’s oil passes through the narrow waterway, with roughly 3,000 ships sailing through it each month. In 2025, about 20 million barrels of oil moved through the strait every day.

The latest comments come after several ships were reportedly attacked in the Gulf this week and Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said Tehran could continue using the threat of blocking the passage.

The developments are being closely watched in Europe. In Belgium, Defence minister Theo Francken said on Friday that the government had not yet decided whether to respond to a request from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for defensive military support against Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Francken said the request would be studied further, but the Belgian government remains divided over possible involvement in the escalating conflict in the Gulf.

^{© SAUL LOEB / AFP}