During the first week of the war in Iran, multiple British news outlets reported that the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier was preparing for possible deployment to the Middle East to assist the United States and Israel. Seven days into the conflict, however, Donald Trump, who has a habit of insulting and alienating our closest allies, used his social media platform to deliver a message to leaders in the U.K.: Don’t bother.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” the American president wrote. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Those attitudes were again on display on Friday when Trump appeared on a Fox News radio program and was asked whether Ukraine has helped the United States with drone defenses. “No, we don’t need the help,” the Republican replied — overlooking the inconvenient fact that our Ukrainian allies have offered and provided the United States with valuable assistance.
Roughly a day later, the American president started reading from a very different kind of script.
On Saturday morning, Trump published a self-defeating message to his social media platform in which he said Iran’s military capabilities have been “destroyed 100%,” except for its drones, mines, missiles, boats and ships. (This was not intended to be amusing.) He added, “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated.”
Hours later, Trump published a follow-up item, again boasting that Iran had already been “beaten,” but he nevertheless expected “the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait” to “take care of that passage.”
This is the same Strait of Hormuz that, according to a Trump statement a few days earlier, is “in great shape” and safe enough for ships to pass through.
After claiming in an NBC News interview that unnamed countries had already committed to helping secure the strait — a dubious assertion, given the circumstances and available information — the Republican “demanded” that foreign nations step up and provide the U.S. with the kind of security assistance he recently said was unnecessary.
A Bloomberg News report summarized matters succinctly: “From his Florida golf course, Trump sent a string of mixed messages on social media, calling for support in a war he’s said repeatedly he’s won, and for help in a strait his administration has insisted remains open.”
Well, sure, when you put it that way, it sounds bad.
Indeed, the series of events seems preposterous. After spending the last year alienating U.S. allies, Trump launched an unnecessary war with no international legitimacy. He then prematurely declared victory, while simultaneously dismissing the need for international assistance, all while characterizing the Strait of Hormuz as a problem that’s already been solved.
It was at this point that the same American president, without explanation, turned on a dime and started demanding assistance from the same countries he’s insulted to address a problem he’s claimed doesn’t exist.
Foreign countries haven’t exactly rushed to answer Trump’s call for help, and Australian and Chinese officials have already rejected U.S. outreach. Imagine that.
