US asks for help to protect Mideast oil shipping

The US expects other countries to back its efforts to protect the flow of oil from the Middle East against threats posed by Iran, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said today.

"You have China that depends enormously on the energy transiting through the strait of Hormuz. You have South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, all of whom have an enormous interest in ensuring there is freedom of navigation through this waterway," Pompeo said following consultations with senior US commanders at the Central Command headquarters in Florida.

"The US is prepared to do its part, but every nation that has a deep interest in protecting that shipping lane" should understand the threat to their economies if the US is not successful, Pompeo said.

Every US administration since the late 1970s has maintained a substantial amount of naval resources around the strait of Hormuz, through which up to 20mn b/d of oil flows, to make good on its pledge to ensure that Mideast Gulf oil can reach world markets.

It is not clear whether the call for international support in ensuring the freedom of navigation in the Mideast Gulf presents a shift in that decades-old commitment. President Donald Trump has long complained about providing costly military protection to Mideast Gulf Arab states and has suggested shifting the financial burden to the countries being protected.

The administration is also keen to demonstrate that its portrayal of Iran as a key regional threat and a source of danger to oil shipping is shared by its allies. Pompeo promised to provide additional evidence linking Iran to last week's attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman and to earlier incidents involving tankers and oil infrastructure in the region. Pompeo today is hosting EU foreign affairs commissioner Federica Mogherini in Washington.

The foreign ministers of EU member states have expressed concern "for the risk of miscalculation or unintentional escalation that could occur in a region that is already at the limit of the stress test," Mogherini said yesterday following the EU foreign affairs council meeting.

Beijing has also warned about a potential escalation. "As we note, many countries and international organizations called on relevant parties to refrain from drawing hasty conclusions before a thorough investigation" into the Gulf of Oman attacks, China's foreign ministry said yesterday.

US acting secretary of defense Patrick Shanahan yesterday announced deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East to confront what Washington says are threats from Iran. Shanahan stepped down today for unrelated reasons. Army secretary Mark Esper will take over the acting secretary portfolio.

The additional deployment, on top of the plans announced last month to send 1,500 troops to the region, is meant to deter Iran, Pompeo said. "President Trump does not want war, and we will continue to communicate that message." Trump has asked Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to deliver the same message to Tehran, Pompeo said.

Democratic members in Congress are asking the Trump administration to communicate to them what the US strategy on Iran is.

"Nobody knows what their plans are and why they are doing what," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said today. "The president needs to lay out what he thinks the problem is, and if there is a problem, how he wants to deal with it."

Senate Republican majority Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said today he backed the administration's policy but asked the administration "to continue working closely with our partners across the globe to encourage Iran's leaders to cease their aggression."

McConnell urged his colleagues not to vote for a resolution blocking proposed arms sales to Saudi Arabia. But he has conceded that the measure likely will win the Senate's approval, albeit without a veto-proof majority.

The White House in late May cited rising threats from Iran to invoke emergency powers to approve weapons sales without the customary congressional clearance, angering Democrats and some Republicans who have vowed to push through a resolution of disapproval. The White House said it would veto the resolution if it passed Congress.