Trump Ditches Appeal for Help in Iran War, Slamming Allies – Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) — US President Donald Trump abandoned his effort to recruit partners for the war with Iran and scolded allies who openly rejected his appeals, even as he repeated claims the conflict would end soon.

The US and Israel nonetheless kept up their attacks with little clarity on when operations would end, with Israel saying it had killed Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, in an overnight operation. Trump threatened to expand strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s main export hub, while Gulf countries continued to face attacks from Iran-sent drones.

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Larijani’s death marks one of the most high-profile killings of an Iranian official since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war. Iranian state media confirmed the death of Larijani, a key pillar of the country’s wartime leadership, though didn’t give any details about the circumstances.

Yet as the conflict continued, there was little sign that European and Asian nations planned to heed Trump’s call to join the fray, even in more limited roles confined to attempting to end the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The near shutdown of the key shipping lane has wreaked havoc on global energy markets and kept oil hovering around $100 a barrel.

Germany, France, Canada, Greece and Norway are among those that have explicitly ruled out participating in the US-Israeli operations. Their refusals have exposed the consequences of Trump’s cavalier approach toward the US’s longstanding alliances. Trump also called out Japan, Australia and South Korea in a social media post earlier Tuesday that stated the US didn’t need the help of anyone.

The US president on Tuesday scolded NATO allies in particular, denouncing their “foolish mistake” not to get involved. “I’ve long said I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us,” Trump said at the White House. “This was a great test because we don’t need them, but they should have been there.”

Trump also sought to drive home his stated reasons for starting the war, citing the need to disarm a potent nuclear threat and claiming, without providing evidence, that Iran was just two weeks away from acquiring a weapon that they would have used “very gladly.”

He also sent more mixed signals about when the US would wind down major military operations, saying “we’re not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the near future.”