The Trump administration Tuesday pressed other countries to step up their efforts to protect navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, while also downplaying the market impact of recent attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and the threat of war with Iran. In remarks at US Central Command in Florida, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo specifically cited China, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan as having “enormous interest” in freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
“The United States is prepared to do its part, but every nation that has a deep interest in protecting that shipping lane so that energy can move around the world and support their economies needs to make sure they understand the real threat – the real threat to their interests in the region, and the real threat to their countries’ economies if we’re not successful in doing that,” Pompeo said.
In an interview with Time magazine Monday, Trump also cited the reliance China and Japan have on the strait for their oil supplies, while claiming the US dependence on the strait has receded. “Other places get such vast amounts of oil there,” Trump told Time. “We get very little. We have made tremendous progress in the last two and a half years in energy. And when the pipelines get built, we’re now an exporter of energy. So we’re not in the position that we used to be in in the Middle East where … some people would say we were there for the oil.”
Trump “feels the need to remind other countries that they have a stake in this part of the world and they need to take the threat seriously,” Matt Reed, vice president of Foreign Reports, told S&P Global Platts Tuesday. “The White House sees this as an international crisis that demands an international response.”
Two tankers were attacked last week just outside the strait, with the US, UK and Saudi Arabia blaming Iran. A similar attack off the eastern UAE port of Fujairah occurred a month earlier. Iran, which previously threatened to shut down traffic through the strait if its oil exports were blocked by US sanctions, has denied responsibility.
In his interview with Time, Trump depicted the attacks as “very minor,” and on Tuesday, and Larry Kudlow, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, told reporters that Iranian threats and actions have had “no impact” on oil prices.