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Donald Trump drew a backlash on Sunday for suggesting US efforts to protect the Strait of Hormuz were unnecessary – and that “maybe we shouldn’t even be there at all” because his country has plenty of oil of its own.
The president made the contradictory comment to reporters on Air Force One after pleading with European and Nato allies to enter the war in Iran to help the US secure the strait amid the largest oil supply disruption in history.
“Really, I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory – because it is their territory,” he said.
“They should come and they should help us protect it. You could make the case that maybe we shouldn’t even be there at all, because we don’t need it. We have a lot of oil. We’re the number one producer anywhere in the world times two.”
Trump received criticism in the early stages of the US and Israel’s three-week war in Iran for failing to convey clear reasons for launching military strikes. He has made a number of antithetical statements since, including telling the UK, which he called a “once great ally”, that its help was not needed in Operation Epic Fury.
His comment on Sunday was similarly questioned in an immediate backlash on social media from critics who accused him of starting an unnecessary war – then demanding others step in to help him end it.
One post referred to the families of the 13 US service members killed in the conflict as of Sunday – and how they might react to the president’s “shouldn’t even be there” suggestion.
The cousin of Tech Sgt Tyler Simmons, one of six airmen killed when a US refueling tanker crashed last week, told Ohio ABC News affiliate WCMH that family was experiencing “the worst nightmare we could ever imagine”.
“This could have been prevented,” Stephan Douglas said in an interview before Trump made his Sunday night comments. “We didn’t need to be in this war. This is uncalled for, and this is what we get.”
Separately, an editor at the progressive outlet MeidasTouch reposted a reply to video of Trump’s “shouldn’t even be there” comment which read: “Sorry, what was that?”
Trump was speaking on the same day as he reversed his earlier position over outside assistance and stepped up pressure on a raft of other countries to become involved in defending the strait.
Australia, France and Japan are among the countries that have said they have no plans to send warships. Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, said on Monday that he was working with European allies on “a viable plan” to reopen the strait – but insisted the country “will not be drawn into the wider war”.
Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s deputy prime minister, said his country would not give in to “blackmail” from the US.
During the gaggle with reporters on Sunday as the president returned to Washington from a weekend at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, Trump suggested that the US effort to secure the strait was for the benefit of other countries.
“It’s almost like we do it for habit, but we also do it for some very good allies that we have in the Middle East,” he said.
Trump has said he was talking with a number of countries who he believed would help but did not identify them. In an earlier social media post, he said he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others would participate.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday his tone was more menacing, warning that Nato faces a “very bad” future if it did not assist the US in protecting the strait from Iranian attacks.
He also told the newspaper that he “may delay” traveling to a summit with Xi Jinping, the president of China, this week until he knew if China, an ally of Iran, would help.
