NATO is considering military options to support commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz if the strategic waterway remains closed beyond early July, amid mounting fears over global energy disruption and growing frustration from Donald Trump over allied reluctance to assist.
According to reports, discussions are underway among several NATO member states over a possible naval deployment aimed at protecting vessels travelling through the narrow maritime corridor, through which a significant share of the world’s oil and gas supplies passes.
Any operation would require unanimous backing from all NATO allies before formal planning could begin.
Asked about the prospect during a briefing on Tuesday, Gen Alexus Hrynkiewicz, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, indicated the possibility was being actively considered, though no operational planning had yet commenced.
“First, the political direction is determined, and then formal planning takes place,” he said. “Am I thinking about it? Absolutely.”
Such a deployment would mark a significant shift in NATO’s posture towards the conflict involving Iran.
Until now, alliance officials have insisted NATO would only contemplate involvement following a ceasefire agreement and the creation of a wider international coalition extending beyond NATO members alone.
The discussions come as Mr Trump publicly vented his irritation at what he sees as a lack of allied support for American-led efforts to secure the waterway and stabilise global energy supplies.
Speaking on Tuesday, the President complained that NATO countries had largely ignored his requests for assistance, despite decades of American military and financial backing for Europe and billions spent supporting allies through conflicts including the war in Ukraine.
“You would have thought they would have said, ‘We’d love to send a couple of minesweepers,’” Mr Trump said. “That’s not a big deal. But they didn’t do that.”
The President has argued that preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon is firmly in the interests of Western allies and has sought to frame the protection of Hormuz as a shared economic and security imperative rather than a solely American concern.
The closure of the strait has already triggered a sharp rise in global energy prices, fuelling inflation fears and weakening growth forecasts across major economies.
Inside the alliance, however, there remains deep unease about becoming entangled in a direct confrontation linked to Iran, particularly after years of political divisions over military interventions in the Middle East.
Mr Trump’s increasingly confrontational relationship with NATO has further complicated the situation.
Since returning to office, he has repeatedly accused European allies of relying excessively on American military protection while failing to spend sufficiently on their own defence capabilities.
He has also continued to question the long-term reliability of America’s commitment to NATO’s mutual defence obligations under Article 5.
While NATO has stressed that it remains a defensive alliance with no desire to enter the Iran conflict directly, critics note that the organisation has previously undertaken major military operations beyond Europe, including the long-running mission in Afghanistan and the 2011 intervention in Libya that contributed to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
For now, officials insist no decision has been taken. But with global markets increasingly rattled by the prolonged closure of Hormuz, pressure is growing on Western governments to decide whether safeguarding global trade routes now outweighs the risks of a deeper military confrontation in the Gulf.
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