Donald Trump has gone from begging allies to send warships to Iran’s doorstep to insisting he never needed anyone in the first place and he’s now lumped Australia into his latest spray.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Trump slammed NATO partners and other allies for refusing to join a US‑led mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after tanker traffic was choked by the ongoing US‑Israeli campaign in Iran.
“We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” he said, claiming NATO is a one way street.
On social media, he amped it up again, boasting that the US had “decimated” Iran’s navy, air force and defences and declaring, “Because of the fact that we have had such military success, we no longer ‘need’, or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea.” He added: “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”
The thing is, Australia maintains it was never actually asked to send a ship in the first place. Transport Minister Catherine King said the government’s contribution so far was focused on providing aircraft to the UAE “to assist with defence, particularly given the number of Australians that are in that area in particular” when asked on ABC Radio National whether Australia would get involved in any effort to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to international shipping and drew a line under any naval role.
She told host Sally Sara, “We won’t be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz. We know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something that we’ve been asked or that we’re contributing to”, later adding that it was “something we’re not contributing to” and that she was “not aware of whether there’s an ask” from the United States.
Trump’s irritation isn’t just about Australia, of course. Germany, Italy and Spain have all said they won’t send ships, while France’s Emmanuel Macron has ruled out joining any operation to “open or liberate” the Strait, stressing that “France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context” because his country is “not party to the conflict”.
During a bilateral meeting, Trump also complained about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s reluctance, prompting Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin to jump in and defend Starmer as “earnest and sound” and to back ongoing allied support for Ukraine.
Although Trump says Australia has not shown support to the US, the Albanese government has sent military personnel to the UAE a surveillance aircraft and medium-range air-to-air missiles, after a direct request from UAE president Mohamed bin Zayed.
Defence minister Richard Marles has confirmed that the US can access the data collected by Australian surveillance planes in Gulf, per the ABC. All information gathered by the surveillance plane is sent to a joint military facility called the Combined Air Operations Centre in Qatar, which the US coordinates its air operations in the region.
All of this is unfolding against a backdrop that’s getting darker by the day. The war in Iran is now in its third week, with US and Israeli strikes shredding large parts of Iran’s missile stockpile, military infrastructure and leadership, and causing mass casualties across Iran and Lebanon. Inside Trump’s own camp, the pushback is growing: National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned this week, saying he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran” and arguing that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby”.
Trump responded by dismissing Kent as “very weak on security” and insisting “it’s a good thing that he’s out”, doubling down on his claim that Iran is a “violent, ruthless nation” that must be stopped from getting nuclear weapons. “You can’t allow the most violent, ruthless nation in the past 50 years to possess a nuclear weapon, or the Middle East will be lost,” he said.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that Trump’s outburst solidified that the US President does not respect smaller countries.
“It really just underlines … the importance of Australia being more independent, exercising our own sovereignty and recognising that the course we have been undertaking, really since the Morrison government, of becoming more and more dependent on the United States, is absolutely the wrong course, because we are making ourselves more dependent on the US at a time when the US is less dependable,” he said on RN Breakfast.
“This is a guy that does not respect smaller countries. He believes might is right, he makes no bones about that. He believes he should be able to do and get whatever he wants.”
Anthony Albanese is yet to comment on this morning’s lashing from Trump.
Lead image: Getty
The post Trump Lashes Out At Australia For Refusing To Back His Iran Offensive appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
