(Investing) – Oil prices edged down from $105 a barrel on Monday, as markets assessed a request from U.S. President Donald Trump for other countries to help restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
— the global benchmark — fell 1.2% to $101.91 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 2.8% to $94.09 a barrel by 11:20 ET (15:20 GMT).
Trump said on Sunday that the White House was in talks with seven countries on helping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with China among those approached over a possible intervention.
He added that unblocking the strait — which accounts for a fifth of the world’s oil supplies — would be a “very small endeavor,” claiming that Iran had limited firepower left after a series of U.S. and Israeli attacks.
In a Financial Times interview, Trump also issued a warning to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization if member countries did not send help in Iran.
But reports said Japan and Australia both declined to send warships to the strait, which has been effectively shuttered by the threat of projectile strikes against tanker traffic. Container shipping companies have reconsidered sending vessels through the strait, with worries surrounding the safety of crews and firms struggling to find insurance for the crossings.
Some U.S. allies, especially most countries in NATO, have also displayed a reluctance to come to Trump’s aid, according to Reuters.
Germany’s defense minister in particular cast doubt over what the capabilities of “a handful or two handfuls of European frigates” can do that “the powerful U.S. Navy cannot do,” adding that “this is not our war, we have not started it.” Officials in Spain and Italy have also appeared to rule out any intervention in Iran, while Greece said it would limits its participation in the Middle East to the Red Sea.
Still, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc is mulling potentially changing the mandate of its naval mission in the Middle East to protect ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, officials in the United Arab Emirates said its oil-industry zone in Fujairah had been hit by a second drone strike in as many days. No injuries were reported, according to authorities cited by the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. officials continued to claim that the Iran war will end quickly. But Tehran has said that it remains ready to fight, and that the strait will stay closed until U.S. and Israeli attacks on the country cease.
(Ambar Warrick contributed reporting.)
