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PARIS — <\/span>We\u2019ve long had your back, now it\u2019s our turn. That is how the famously transactional U.S. President Donald Trump is framing his demands that allies help him with the Iran war<\/a>. He wants to call in IOUs for decades of U.S. security guarantees.<\/p>\n The string of refusals indicates his stock of European goodwill is low. He has put allies through the wringer since returning to the White House, bullying them over tariffs<\/a>, Greenland<\/a> and other issues, and disparaging the sacrifices<\/a> their soldiers made alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. <\/p>\n Now he\u2019s demanding \u2014 not just requesting<\/a> \u2014 that they send warships to help the U.S. unblock the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes \u2014 essentially mop up behind the conflagration<\/a> that he and Israel ignited in the Middle East.<\/p>\n The reply has been a \u201cglobal raspberry.\u201d<\/p>\n That’s how a veteran French defense analyst, Fran\u00e7ois Heisbourg, described allied responses.<\/p>\n No close ally has come forward with immediate help. Britain is flat-out refusing<\/a> to be drawn into the war. France says the fighting would have to die down first. Others are non-committal. China, which is not an ally but was also asked to help, is ignoring Trump’s call.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is not Europe\u2019s war. We didn\u2019t start the war. We were not consulted,\u201d European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday.<\/p>\n Trump has singled out the refusal from the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Keir Starmer cultivated ties with Trump<\/a> and reached an early trade deal<\/a> with the administration, but is now among allies who refuse to join a regional war with no clear endgame.<\/a><\/p>\n The U.K. \u201cwas sort of considered the Rolls-Royce of allies,\u201d Trump said Monday, adding that he’d asked for British minesweeping ships.<\/p>\n \u201cI was not happy with the U.K,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey should be involved enthusiastically. We\u2019ve been protecting these countries for years.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer said Britain \u201cwill not be drawn into the wider war” and that British troops require the backing of international law and \u201ca proper thought-through plan” \u2014 suggesting those were not in place.<\/p>\n He initially refused to let U.S. bombers attack Iran from British bases before accepting their use for strikes on Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe, said allies are \u201clooking at the United States in a way that they never have before. And this is bad for the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n Having previously appeased Trump, some European leaders are \u201cstarting to realize that there\u2019s no benefit or value in using flattery,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Going to war without consulting allies<\/a> was in keeping with Trump’s America-first outlook.<\/p>\n \u201cMy attitude is: We don\u2019t need anybody. We\u2019re the strongest nation in the world,” he said Monday<\/a>. <\/p>\n But failing to get an international mandate, as the U.S. did before intervening in the 1990 Gulf War<\/a>, is boomeranging.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not our war; we did not start it,\u201d German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said. \u201cWe want diplomatic solutions and a swift end to the conflict. Sending more warships to the region will certainly not contribute to that.\u201d<\/p>\n French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> envisions possible naval escorts in the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 but only once fighting has died down.<\/p>\n \u201cFrance didn’t choose this war. We’re not taking part,” he said.<\/p>\n After bruising tariff battles with Trump last year, the first months of 2026 have further strained alliances. Trump’s renewed pressure for U.S. control of Greenland, including a tariff threat against eight European nations, and his false assertion that allied troops avoided front-line fighting<\/a> in the Afghanistan War, upset partners in the NATO military alliance. <\/p>\n \u201cAllies, or at least the Europeans, aren’t willing to be at the beck and call of a demand from Donald Trump,” said Sylvie Bermann, a French former ambassador to China, the U.K. and Russia. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd even in asking for a helping hand, he is doing so in a brutal manner, saying: \u2018You\u2019re useless, we’re the strongest, we don’t need you, but come,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Retired naval officers say that unblocking the Strait of Hormuz with military escorts while the war rages and without Iran’s consent would be dangerous<\/a>.<\/p>\n France, which has rushed its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier<\/a> to the Mediterranean, is working with other countries to prepare such a mission once the air war has subsided. French military spokesman Col. Guillaume Vernet said any escorting would be conditional on talks with Iran, and Macron has publicized two calls in eight days with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n That has won points with Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cOn a scale of zero to 10, I\u2019d say he\u2019s been an eight,\u201d Trump said Monday. \u201cNot perfect, but it’s France. We don’t expect perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n But he’s fuming at other allies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said Tuesday.<\/p>\n Allies in Europe and Asia need oil, gas and other products from the Middle East to flow again. That gives Trump some leverage.<\/p>\n Allies also know from experience that resisting Trump carries risks of retaliation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really could be anything. Are the Europeans prepared for that?\u201d asked Ed Arnold, a former British army officer and now a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank.<\/p>\n European allies need Trump’s continued blessing for U.S. weaponry, intelligence, and other support for Ukraine<\/a>, as well as financial pressure on Russia. The U.S. has started to chip away at some sanctions<\/a> on Moscow by temporarily allowing shipments of Russian oil to ease shortages<\/a> stemming from the Iran war. Allies also want him to reengage in talks to end the war.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was what kept European leaders quiet for a lot of last year in the face of the rhetoric and actions,” said Amanda Sloat, a former U.S. national security adviser who now teaches at Spain\u2019s IE University.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is also the thing that is making them a little bit nervous now.\u201d<\/p>\n __<\/p>\n Burrows reported from London. Associated Press journalists Jill Lawless in London, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n