EditorialTrump’s Iran address fails to set minds at ease or clearly signal direction

Amid rising fuel prices and falling approval ratings in a US midterm election year, Trump’s remarks were aimed at reassuring an American public increasingly wary of deeper or longer involvement in Iran, especially given that Americans were led to expect a quick victory. Less than an hour before Trump spoke, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reported missile launches from Iran.

Trump also suggested that the US would leave the Strait of Hormuz blockade to be managed by other countries, naming China, France, Japan and South Korea, which rely on the strategic passage. His address did nothing to ease shared concerns in Europe and the Middle East about reliance on American security.

Since World War II, there has been wide dependence on the US for global security, making it an acknowledged superpower. What is happening in Iran, regardless of whether Trump can really end the war quickly or normal sea traffic resumes in the Strait of Hormuz, has brought home to many countries that they must now think beyond their own borders when it comes to security.

In a sense, it is not unlike talk in Europe of “de-risking” from China after the Covid-19 pandemic because some countries realised they could not become too dependent on one nation to supply critical materials and equipment. Like Covid-19, the Iran war is a wake-up call to other parts of the world about their overdependence on the US for security.

Regardless of how the war ends, many other countries will probably spend more on security. Some, particularly in Europe and within Nato, have expressed doubts about relying on the US and called for more self-reliance and decision-making power. Concerns include US pressure to share more of the cost.