Oil prices jump after Trump demands others 'take the lead' on Hormuz Strait

Oil prices rose sharply again Thursday and stock markets fell as President Donald Trump left the task of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to a group of U.S. allies.

Officials from more than 40 countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East convened by videoconference Thursday to discuss how to clear the strait, a vital corridor for the world’s oil supply that has been choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The United States was not expected to join the meeting, which Britain organized.


In his address to the nation on Wednesday night, Trump presented no plan to reopen the strait, suggesting it was not the United States’ problem. The president, who has railed against NATO allies for hesitating to get more involved in the war, said it was up to other countries to “take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.”

Trump also defended the increasingly unpopular war, while saying the military campaign in the Middle East was “nearing completion.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/04/02/us-iran-war-strait-hormuz-future/

As usual folks have to clean up after him.