South Korea Weighs Trump Call to Send Warships to Protect Gulf Oil Route
Seoul Says It Is ‘Closely Monitoring’ Proposal to Secure Strait of Hormuz Amid Iran Conflict
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — South Korea said Sunday it is closely monitoring a call by U.S. President Donald Trump for allied nations to deploy warships to help protect oil shipments passing through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
The proposal comes as tensions remain high in the Gulf after U.S. and Israeli forces launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran has since responded with attacks and threats that have nearly halted shipping traffic through the narrow waterway, which normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
After previously saying the U.S. Navy would soon begin escorting tankers through the strait, Trump wrote on social media Saturday that “many countries” would also send warships to ensure the route remains open.
He specifically mentioned South Korea and Japan among the nations he hoped would participate. Seoul, however, stopped short of making any commitments.
“We are closely monitoring President Trump’s remarks on social media and will carefully consider the matter in close consultation with the United States,” a South Korean presidential official told AFP.
The official added that the government was “comprehensively considering and exploring various measures… to ensure the safety of energy transport routes.”
Like many Asian economies, South Korea is heavily dependent on imported energy, much of which travels through the Strait of Hormuz.
The disruption caused by the conflict has already forced Seoul to take emergency steps to stabilize its energy market. The government recently imposed a cap on fuel prices to ease pressure on consumers and businesses—its first such measure since 1997.
Earlier Sunday, a senior Japanese official also signaled caution over Trump’s proposal.
Takayuki Kobayashi, policy chief of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said the threshold for dispatching Japanese naval vessels to the region under existing laws remained “extremely high.”
“Legally speaking, we do not rule out the possibility, but given the current situation in which this conflict is ongoing, I believe this is something that must be considered with great caution,” Kobayashi said on the public broadcaster NHK’s political debate program.
In his post, Trump also called on other major powers—including China, France, and the United Kingdom—to contribute naval forces, saying he hoped countries affected by what he described as an “artificial constraint” on shipping would deploy vessels to the area.