Secretary of State Marco Rubio blasted America’s European allies for refusing to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, despite their heavy reliance on it.
Many of these allies have offered little meaningful support for Operation Epic Fury, instead calling for renewed negotiations and, in some cases, denying U.S. military aircraft access to their airspace, in what appears to be a largely symbolic gesture.
Rubio added that for countries so quick to invoke international law, they seem far more willing to apply it to compliant nations like the U.S. than to hold regimes like Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, accountable.
🚨 Secretary Marco Rubio just delivered a BRUTAL wake-up call to U.S. allies refusing to step up on the Strait of Hormuz.
— Overton (@overton_news) April 1, 2026
“We depend very little on the straits — this is a problem for the WORLD.”
RUBIO: “Well, the Straits of Hormuz, those are international waters, so anything… pic.twitter.com/3GuZxK74Sw
"Well, the Straits of Hormuz, those are international waters, right? So, anything Iran does to impede commercial traffic is illegal," Rubio said. "For all these countries that love to talk about international law, it is a violation of international maritime law to impede the free flow of travel in international waters, okay? So, that's number one."
"Number two, it's illegal to bomb and hit and attack commercial shipping and sink them," he continued. "I mean, that's what the Nazis did during World War II in the Atlantic, and that's what they're doing now, to ships from countries they don't like or flagged by countries they don't like. These are terroristic acts that they're undertaking."
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"And so, the United States gets very little energy through the Straits of Hormuz," the Secretary of State added. "Our allies ship out a lot of oil through there, meaning our Gulf allies, and certainly countries in Asia and Europe depend on it. We depend very little on the Straits. So, if in fact Iran decides to set up a toll, if in fact Iran decides that they're going to illegally control the Straits of Hormuz or decide they're going to try to do that, look, I imagine that'll be the president's call whether he wants to help, but this is a problem for the world."
While the Strait accounts for roughly 20 percent of the world’s seaborne oil each day, it supplies only about 7 percent of U.S. crude oil and 2 percent of its petroleum liquids consumption. By comparison, the European Union imports around 6.2 percent of its crude oil and 8.7 percent of its LNG through the Strait. While not overwhelming, it underscores a clear reality: America’s allies rely on it more than the United States does.
"Countries around the world should be stepping up and dealing with that and saying that's intolerable, and that's what we've encouraged them to do," Rubio said.
This comes as President Trump has embraced a slate of nontraditional allies throughout his administration, including Argentina and El Salvador in South America, as well as Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, many of America’s European allies continue to signal that, when it comes to global security, they would rather be acted upon and defer to negotiation than project the strength they once possessed.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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