Amid febricity over the unilateral decision to attack Iran on Israel’s insistence among many European countries, who dared to say no to the US despite repeated demands to join the campaign, the US president Donald Trump appeared agitated and frustrated, urging European states to claim their own oil from the Strait of Hormuz, while signalling that the war could end within two to three weeks as diplomatic blueprints were tentatively explored.
France interdicted Israeli aircraft carrying military supplies from traversing its airspace, and Italy concurrently invoked stringent procedural mandates to deny American strategic bombers sanctuary within Sicilian airbases, and Spain refused the use of its bases altogether while rebuking attempts to dictate policy.
The Iberian Peninsula emerged as a bastion of resistance when Spain repudiated the utilisation of its military installations altogether; furthermore, Madrid issued a blistering rebuke against what it perceived as an imperial attempt to dictate domestic security policy.
Even the United Kingdom, though providing nominal access to its strategic assets, found itself the target of Trumpian admonishment, for the White House openly questioned whether the North Atlantic consensus had devolved into a series of asymmetrical obligations.
On his Truth Social platform, the President castigated these “recalcitrant” partners for their perceived pusillanimity, yet he paradoxically suggested that the conflagration might terminate within a two-to-three-week timeframe should Tehran accede to stringent conditional ties, while warning that nations dependent on Gulf energy supplies must shoulder responsibility for safeguarding maritime routes rather than relying on American intervention.
Trump indicated that US operations in Iran might conclude “very soon,” outlining a tentative timeframe of two to three weeks, even as his administration pursued negotiations with Tehran, though Iranian officials signalled only conditional willingness contingent upon guarantees preventing future hostilities.
The US’ frustration extended beyond Europe, with senior officials hinting at reassessing defence commitments and warning that allies must demonstrate reciprocity, even as the economic fallout intensified globally, with leaders describing the oil shock as unprecedented and governments grappling with inflationary pressures.
Trump’s insistence that nations reliant on the Strait of Hormuz should secure it themselves, coupled with suggestions that they “build delayed courage,” was widely criticised as impractical and dangerously escalatory, given the strategic volatility of the waterway.
On the battlefield, hostilities expanded, with air strikes targeting Iranian infrastructure, explosions reported in regional capitals, and maritime attacks further destabilising shipping lanes, while Israel escalated operations in Lebanon, announcing plans to occupy territory up to the Litani River.