As the week drew to a close, European nations remained as firm as ever in their defiance of Donald Trump’s demands for warships at the Strait of Hormuz, with no sign that the US president’s warnings about NATO’s future had produced any shift in European policy. Governments across the continent maintained their preference for diplomatic solutions, their insistence on collective decision-making, and their refusal to join a conflict they had played no role in starting. The episode appeared set to become a defining moment in the management of transatlantic relations during the Trump era, with consequences for the alliance that remained difficult to predict.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius both maintained their positions with no indication of wavering. Merz continued to argue from historical precedent against military force as a tool of political change, while Pistorius reiterated his challenge to the strategic logic of Trump’s request. Their statements continued to serve as the intellectual backbone of the broader European position, giving other European governments both arguments and cover for their own refusals.
Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom maintained his careful balancing act, neither closing the door on British involvement nor committing to any specific action. He continued to stress the importance of multilateral support and confirmed the UK would not be drawn into the wider conflict without proper process. Trump remained publicly critical of London while privately retaining some hope of British engagement.
Italy, Greece, France, Japan, and Australia all maintained their refusals, and the EU’s decision not to expand Operation Aspides remained in force after Monday’s ministerial meeting. Kaja Kallas confirmed the decision, and Estonia continued to press for strategic clarity from Washington and Tel Aviv. The broad international coalition of refusal showed no signs of fracturing, leaving Trump’s coalition-building effort as unsuccessful at week’s end as it had been at the beginning.
The conflict’s military and humanitarian toll continued to mount. Israel maintained its campaign of strikes across Iranian cities, Iran continued to launch retaliatory missiles at Israel, and drone attacks kept UAE energy and air operations under pressure. Iran maintained its rejection of ceasefire proposals, and the US continued to report casualties, with 13 dead and over 200 wounded now confirmed. Rights organizations placed the total Iranian death toll at more than 1,800 people, the majority of them civilians, ensuring that the human cost of the conflict remained impossible to ignore.