00:00before. U.S. allies are reacting with caution or just flat out refusing a request from Donald
00:05Trump to help secure oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has almost entirely halted
00:10traffic in the critical waterway, which usually accounts for about 20 percent of the world's oil
00:15exports, sending crude prices soaring across the globe. Early in the day, U.K. Prime Minister Keir
00:21Starmer said his country would not be drawn into a wider war. France has been noncommittal while
00:27Germany, Italy, Australia and Japan have all said they would not help reopen the Strait.
00:33The sharpest refusal to Trump's request came from Germany. Take a listen to what the country's
00:38defense minister had to say earlier.
00:41What does the world expect? What does Donald Trump expect from, let's say, a handful or
00:48two handful of European frigates in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful American Navy cannot
00:53accomplish there alone? We didn't start this war. We want diplomatic solutions and a swift end.
01:02And for more on this, we can cross to our correspondent in Brussels, Dave Keating. Dave,
01:07overall, how are EU members and NATO members, for that matter, reacting to this request from
01:12Donald Trump to help secure the Strait of Hormuz?
01:17We're hearing near universal refusal. We've had a meeting of EU foreign ministers today. It was
01:23interesting because the EU's foreign policy chief, Kayakalas, came into that meeting this morning
01:28talking about the possibility of the existing Aspidas mission that's protecting shipping possibly being
01:36expanded. Now, that's an EU mission that's protecting shipping in the Red Sea from attacks from the Houthi
01:43rebels in Yemen. There was some talk that that mission could be expanded over to the Persian Gulf,
01:49but that apparently got slapped down today basically by almost every single country,
01:53especially Germany. We're saying that the mission of that Aspidas mission cannot be expanded geographically
02:00to the Gulf or having its rules of engagement expanded. So by the end of the day today, when
02:05she did her final press conference, there was no more mention of that mission possibly being expanded.
02:11And she was saying that the focus today was on Ukraine, that the EU's emphasis right now is
02:18still on protecting Ukraine. Of course, she did also talk about the Iran war, about the dangers
02:23presented to the global economy by the Strait of Hormuz that the EU is concerned. But we're really
02:29hearing European countries have absolutely no interest in getting involved in this. It's
02:33being widely perceived as Donald Trump asking the European countries to bail him out of the mess
02:39that he has created. He said today that the reaction by Iran to getting attacked was much more than the
02:48U.S. expected. He was saying that they did not expect the Gulf countries to be attacked. They apparently
02:53didn't make any preparations for the possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Europeans have really
02:58been watching all of this with exasperation and shock that so little preparation was made for these
03:05eventualities, which, after all, had been talked about for decades as always a natural consequence
03:11of any war that would be attempted with Iran. Now, could this change over the coming days? We're not
03:17sure. There is going to be a summit of EU national leaders, prime ministers and presidents,
03:22here in Brussels on Thursday. As we see the effects of the Strait closing, national leaders here in
03:29Europe are going to be keen to look like they're doing something to stop the out-of-control price
03:35inflation on energy and coming really with everything. Analysts are now saying that if this war goes on
03:40much longer, it's going to make the inflation that we experienced during the pandemic look like child's
03:46play. So national leaders are going to be eager. They're going to look for levers they can pull to
03:51at least look like they're doing something in response. And maybe sending some kind of symbolic
03:56ship over to the Strait of Hormuz might look like they're doing something. But they also know that the
04:01risk is that sending even one ship and having that ship get attacked draws all of Europe into this war.
04:08And that's what we heard in that soundbite from Germany's Defense Minister Pistorius. They're
04:12really outlining that concern that every European country has right now, that getting involved in
04:17any operation to try to free up the Strait of Hormuz drags Europe into this war and could actually end
04:23up prolonging and enlarging the war. Because the pressure caused by that Strait of Hormuz closure is
04:29the biggest thing that might motivate Donald Trump to end this war prematurely over the coming days,
04:34maybe declare a victory that's not really there. And the risk is that if the Europeans say,
04:40okay, we'll send you some ships, they'll be there in a few weeks, Donald Trump keeps the war going
04:45because he thinks that help is on the way. So right now we're hearing really universal no to this idea,
04:51but that could shift as European leaders start panicking about what's to come.
04:55Okay, Dave Keating and Brussels, I know you'll keep us updated. Dave, thanks as always. We appreciate it.
