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Several key U.S. allies have pushed back against Donald Trump's call to send warships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, exposing growing tensions within Western alliances.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said NATO and most other allies rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, grousing that he was unable to rally support behind his war in Iran that he says he's conducting for the good of the world, even if it doesn't appreciate his effort.

President Donald Trump listens to a reporter's question Tuesday during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

Trump, who pressed allies to help safeguard the critical waterway to ease a chokepoint on the region's oil exports, fumed that the U.S. is not getting support "despite the fact that we helped" NATO "so much," and said it was in allies' interest to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon.

Trump's indignant response to allies' refusal to get involved in the war underscored that the conflict — now in its third week and causing reverberations across the global economy — is one the international community is looking to the U.S. leader to sort out himself after he launched it without consultation.

While he expressed resentment at traditional U.S. allies, "We don't need any help, actually," Trump told reporters as he hosted Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin for a St. Patrick's Day visit to the White House.

Trump made the case that the road to conflict was chosen based on what he described as a "feeling" about the threat posed by Iran. He said it will end when his gut says it's time.

Trump complained that NATO allies counted on tens of billions of dollars in U.S. backing for Ukraine to fend off Russia's invasion, but could not return the favor to help the U.S. and Israel in its efforts to defang Iran, which posed a threat to the Middle East and beyond for years. The U.S., he added, spent hundreds of billions fortifying Europe and Asian defenses.

In the past, Trump hammered bloc members for spending too little and questioned U.S. commitment to the mutual defense statute in NATO's founding treaty that states an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.

A linchpin of the post World War II national security framework, NATO exists as a defensive alliance, not an offensive one. It said it has no plans to get involved in the U.S.-led war with Iran. However, NATO troops deployed for 18 years to Afghanistan and its 2011 air campaign helped topple Libya's late leader Moammar Gadhafi.

President Donald Trump complains about NATO’s refusal to join the U.S. in the war, calling the decision “disappointing” and bad for the “partnership.” He floated the idea of having the U.S. withdraw from the alliance as a result.

Trump directed most of his pique at NATO

Trump noted allies in Japan, Australia, and South Korea — as well as China — rejected his calls to get involved in helping secure the strait, the critical waterway through which about a fifth of the world's crude oil typically passes. Asia is the most exposed to the trade disruption because it relies heavily on imported fuel, much of which is shipped through the strait.

The European Union's top diplomat pushed back at Trump, saying the 27-nation bloc does not want to be dragged into the U.S.-Israel war on Iran and broadly rejected Trump's demand to send warships to the strait.

"This is not Europe's war. We didn't start the war. We were not consulted," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday, a day after chairing talks among the member countries about Trump's warship demand.

"We don't know what are the objectives of this war," she said. "The member states do not have the wish to be dragged into this."

Trump called the moment a "great test" for NATO and said the alliance made "a very foolish mistake" by rejecting him.

A reporter asked Trump if he was rethinking the U.S. relationship with NATO in light of the response to the Iran war — or perhaps even pondering getting out of the military alliance.

"It's certainly something that we should think about. I don't need Congress for that decision," the Republican president said. He added, "I have nothing currently in mind, but I'm not exactly thrilled."

Congress passed a law in 2023 that requires congressional authorization to leave the military alliance. Experts said Trump could try to negotiate loopholes to try to get around the law.

Trump's position that longstanding U.S. support for NATO should be reciprocated now that the U.S. asked for help in Iran was met with stiff resistance.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country is ready to help secure the Strait of Hormuz but only as part of a mission separate from the current Middle East war. "We are not a party to the conflict," he said.

Trump said he was "disappointed" in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who initially blocked American planes from using British bases for attacks on Iran. Starmer later agreed to let the U.S. use some U.K. bases to strike Iran's ballistic missiles and their storage sites, but not to hit other targets.

Trump also jabbed at Ireland's President Catherine Connolly, when asked about her criticism that the U.S. and Israeli operations were "deliberate assaults on international law."

"Look, he's lucky I exist," Trump said of Connolly, who is a woman.

The State Department reached out to numerous countries seeking their support in isolating Iran by designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, actions that would result in sanctions against those groups and their members.

A cable sent to all U.S. diplomatic missions Monday asked American diplomats based in countries that have not yet made such designations to act quickly to do so.

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