US looks to shift responsibility for Hormuz crisis

(SeaPRwire) –   Iran has curtailed passage through the vital strait as a countermeasure to the US-Israeli campaign for regime change.

According to statements from American officials and various media outlets, restoring unrestricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—currently under an Iranian blockade—is not a primary objective for the US military. Instead, Washington has signaled that it expects other countries to address the situation.

Tehran restricted maritime movement through the essential waterway in response to the US-Israeli offensive launched over a month ago, which seeks to overthrow the Iranian leadership. The resulting decline in the flow of hydrocarbons and other vital goods from the Persian Gulf has driven up global prices, heightening the threat of major economic instability.

In a Monday interview with Al Jazeera, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the notion that Iran would continue to collect tolls from vessels permitted to pass through the strait, but clarified that ensuring free transit is not a goal of Washington’s current military campaign. Rubio asserted that the US is focused on degrading Iran’s military capabilities and is “well on our way or ahead of schedule.”

“When this operation is over, it will be open, and it will be open one way or another,” he stated. He added that if Iran persists with its demands, “a coalition of nations from around the world and the region, with the participation of the United States, will make sure that it [the Strait of Hormuz] is open.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration believes efforts to secure the chokepoint “would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks” and is planning to “press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait.”

NATO’s war after all?

Nations that were previously uninvolved have declined to commit their military forces to assist the US in unblocking the Strait of Hormuz. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius remarked on Trump’s request for support: “It is not our war; we did not start it.”

The US president countered by threatening to withdraw American support for Ukraine, stating that Kiev’s conflict with Russia “isn’t my war.” Since taking office, Trump has ceased providing weapons to Kiev, compelling European nations to fund them, while maintaining the sharing of critical intelligence with Ukrainian military leadership.

When questioned regarding concerns among European NATO members that the US is unreliable and might abandon the alliance, Rubio stated that being “an alliance means it has to be mutually beneficial” rather than a one-way arrangement.

US risks losing more than China in oil crisis

Rubio maintained that “very little of American energy comes through the Straits of Hormuz” and that Washington’s opposition to Iran’s actions is based on principle rather than pragmatism. He warned that if a precedent is established where a nation can seize an international trade route, “the Chinese could do it in the South China Sea” and the US could make similar claims of its own.

This week, Goldman Sachs challenged Washington’s assumption that, as an energy exporter, the US is largely shielded from the economic fallout of the Middle East crisis. Strategist Kinger Lau wrote on Monday that the Chinese economy “appears better positioned amid oil supply shock than its global peers.”

The analysis noted that Beijing has increased the share of non-fossil energy in its consumption from 26% a decade ago to 40% today. Furthermore, China holds significant strategic reserves and has diversified its import routes, including supplies from Russia, Australia, and Malaysia. The report predicted that US economic growth could suffer twice the impact of China’s.