President Donald Trump is furious at U.S. allies who refused to answer his call for help in securing the Strait of Hormuz amid the war with Iran, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Iran has shut down much of the travel in the region, impeding the flow of oil and other resources through the waterway in response to U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against its military infrastructure. Trump recently asked European and Asian nations to send warships to the area to prevent Iran from continuing its operations in the Strait of Hormuz.
Graham said he had just spoken with the president about the issue. “I have never heard him so angry in my life,” he wrote in a post on X. “I share that anger given what’s at stake.”
The arrogance of our allies to suggest that Iran with a nuclear weapon is of little concern and that military action to stop the ayatollah from acquiring a nuclear bomb is our problem not theirs is beyond offensive. The European approach to containing the ayatollah’s nuclear ambitions have proven to be a miserable failure.
The repercussions of providing little assistance to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning are going to be wide and deep for Europe and America.
I consider myself very forward-leaning on supporting alliances, however at a time of real testing like this, it makes me second guess the value of these alliances. I am certain I am not the only senator who feels this way.
Just spoke to @POTUS about our European allies’ unwillingness to provide assets to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning, which benefits Europe far more than America. I have never heard him so angry in my life. I share that anger given what’s at stake.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 17, 2026
The arrogance of our…
Trump also responded to the rejections in a post on Truth Social in which he noted that the U.S. “has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran” even though “almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” the president added.
Trump reaffirmed that the U.S. has “decimated Iran’s Military.”
Germany and other European Union states view the effort to clear the Strait of Hormuz as part of the broader war against Iran, which they opposed. Instead, E.U. leaders like France’s Emmanuel Macron and the United Kingdom’s Keir Starmer prefer limited escort or defensive missions in the region instead of joining the U.S. offensive against the Iranian regime. Trump indicated that he would “remember” which nations refused to offer assistance.