Trump’s ‘absurdly incoherent’ Iran pleas leave allies befuddled – POLITICO

Despite the lack of concrete support, allies’ joint statement appears to be pleasing Washington. “It’s common sense for President Trump to call on our NATO allies to step up and do more to help secure the Strait [of] Hormuz,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday. “Now we’re already starting to see them answer the President’s call.”

In practice, Europe could deploy destroyers to help Washington escort convoys through the strait, said Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow and naval military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, since the U.S. only has around 25 of the heavily-armed, missile-capable type of vessel available to immediately deploy worldwide.

Europe could also supply counter-mining capabilities, he argued, one area where the U.S. is  “quite constrained.” Germany, Estonia, France, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and the U.K. together operate roughly 40 counter-mine vessels, he said, compared to America’s four.

“There is a role for a wide array of navies to play in this,” said one British defense official, adding the U.K. had begun examining possible options such as sending a Royal Navy ship or commercial vessel accompanied by autonomous systems to destroy mines as part of a multinational coalition in the strait — but only once the conflict subsides.

“What is clear,” they added, “is that there has to be some, if not a complete end … in the rate and scale in combat operations in the region before we could imagine to secure the strait.”

And until the U.S. ceases hostilities in the region and explains what it needs — and why — its European partners are unlikely to do much more.

Allies “do not agree with being called into a war that we haven’t started, with no idea [of what the U.S.] is going to do,” said one NATO diplomat. For now, “I’m proud of our ‘no.’”

Clea Caulcutt contributed reporting from Paris.