The U.S. president said he hoped that major powers with a stake in global energy flows would join the effort.
President Donald Trump said on March 14 that some countries affected by Iran’s attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz are joining the United States in patrolling the strategic waterway.
Although the U.S. strikes over the past weeks have sharply reduced Iran’s fighting force, the president wrote in a Truth Social post on March 14 that Tehran still retained the ability to threaten with smaller weapons ships that are passing through the strait.
“Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” he wrote.
Trump did not identify which governments are participating, but said he hoped that other major economies with a stake in global energy flows would join the effort.
“Hopefully, China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated,” Trump wrote.
In the meantime, Trump said, U.S. forces would continue targeting what remained of Iran’s naval capabilities and striking sites along the coastline.
Iran has demonstrated the ability to use its shoreline and nearby waters to launch attacks with small boats, drones, mines, shore-based missiles, mobile artillery, and submarines against commercial shipping in the narrow passage.
“One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE,” Trump said.
The White House did not respond to a request for more information.
So far, the U.S. military has not assigned warships to escort commercial vessels through the strait. During a March 13 Pentagon briefing, officials said the current priority is to degrade Iran’s ability to disrupt traffic there, while striking a cautious tone on any large-scale escort operation.
“We’ve made it a priority to target Iran’s minelaying enterprise, their mine layers, the naval bases and depots, in addition to the missiles that could influence the straits,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters. “And [U.S. Central Command] continues to attack those efforts.”
Caine described the Strait of Hormuz as “a tactically complex environment” as he addressed comments by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who had walked back an earlier social media post suggesting that an escort had already taken place.
“And before I think we want to take anything through there at scale, we want to make sure that we do the work pursuant to our current military objectives to do that safely and smartly,” Caine said.
Commercial traffic through the strait remains far below normal levels. A March 13 advisory from the UK Maritime Trade Operations, a British navy-run organization providing security information for commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, said there were only five cargo transits that day and only one tanker transit over the past seven days.
The historical average is about 138 vessel transits per day, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day moved through the waterway in 2024, equivalent to about 20 percent of global petroleum liquids consumption.
The waterway is also a major route for broader trade. Businesses and industry groups have warned that the disruption is already affecting freight rates, bunker fuel costs, fertilizer supply chains, and wider global trade flows.