After President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. needed no assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the administration has launched a new effort to get allies to help move ships through the critical passageway blocked by Iran.
According to an internal memo seen by NBC News, the State Department is seeking to create a new coalition called the “Maritime Freedom Construct.”
The coalition would be a joint initiative with the Pentagon to share information among partners for safe transit through the strait, and to coordinate diplomatic and economic actions against Iran, according to the memo sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts.
The effort is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to wrest control of the strait from Iran as global energy prices soar, diplomatic efforts stall and the standoff over the future of the strait continues with no foreseeable end.
Iran began blocking ships from entering the Strait of Hormuz shortly after U.S. and Israel began its bombing campaign on Feb. 28. After first asking for help from allies, Trump later declared the strait wasn’t his problem and U.S. allies would have to figure out access themselves.
Since then, energy prices have spiked to a four-year high and Trump’s approval rating has slid, according to a recent NBC News poll.
There’s not much incentive to join the international coalition floated by the U.S.; the war caught many U.S. allies unaware and they have been unwilling to engage in it. The president has increasingly attacked and berated NATO allies, vowing again to reassess membership in the trans-Atlantic alliance over its resistance to the conflict.
"We got no help, zero from NATO," Trump said during a speech in Florida on Friday. "You know, we spent trillions of dollars in NATO. We got no help."
On Friday, Pentagon officials said the U.S. is withdrawing approximately 5,000 troops from Germany after Trump was angered by criticism from the German chancellor over the war with Iran.
The decision was a direct response to comments made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but also reflected Trump’s frustration that U.S. allies aren’t doing enough, according to a senior Pentagon official.
On Thursday evening, Trump suggested he also would pull troops from Italy and Spain.
“Why shouldn’t I? Italy has not been of any help to us and Spain has been horrible, absolutely horrible,” Trump told reporters.
A temporary ceasefire went into effect on April 8 to allow the U.S. and Iran room to negotiate an end to the war and to reopen the strait, but talks have not produced results. The U.S. started a naval blockade of Iranian ports in the strait and has blocked at least 41 vessels.
The next steps are unclear, but a White House official told NBC News that Trump’s planned mid-May trip to China, which has ties with Iran, is among the factors contributing to his decision-making process.
His visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which was already postponed once because of the war in Iran, is a “priority,” and the White House really does not want to move it again, according to NBC News.
In the State Department memo, diplomats were asked to pitch the multinational coordination body to foreign officials by Friday and to assure allies and partners that “all levels of engagement are welcome.”
While the Trump administration previously encouraged other allies and nations to take the lead in creating similar coordinating bodies, this new U.S.-led coalition is intended to “fill gaps not currently addressed” and would be “complementary to other maritime security task forces, including the maritime planning effort the UK and France are leading," according to the memo.
“We look forward to establishing communications channels with the UK and France to deconflict and closely coordinate these efforts” the cable said. “The MFC will remain structurally independent, though we seek close collaboration to achieve the strongest maritime security architecture possible.”
The State Department-led component would serve as the diplomatic operations hub for allies, partners and the commercial shipping industry. It would also provide a platform to coordinate joint actions, including “economic measures designed to impose costs on Iran for disrupting maritime security,” while U.S. Central Command would coordinate real-time maritime traffic and communicate directly with vessels transiting the strait.
The State Department declined to provide a list of countries expected to join the U.S.-led group, but diplomatic posts were told not to reach out to “U.S. adversaries, including Russia, China, Belarus, and Cuba.”
The cable first reported by The Wall Street Journal also made clear that “any future maritime construct, must exclude Iranian participation.”
“We invite your country to join the MFC as a diplomatic and/or military partner in this critical initiative, read one suggested talking point for diplomats. "Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy."
