Sawt Falasteen - Trump pushes for 'enthusiasm' from allies to secure Hormuz

Trump called for more "enthusiasm" from other countries, as he said he believed France and Britain would somewhat reluctantly get involved.

"We strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm," Trump told reporters during an event at the White House.

"The level of enthusiasm matters to me."

Trump said a number of countries that he did not name had committed to help secure the waterway, a critical choke point for the global oil trade, but lashed out at others who were not "enthusiastic."

"For 40 years, we're protecting you, and you don't want to get involved," Trump said.

NATO and other Western allies pushed back earlier Monday on Trump's demand at the weekend that the alliance help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed.

During lengthy remarks at a meeting with the hand-picked board of Washington's Kennedy Center, which Trump has renamed after himself, Trump had only partial praise for the leaders of Britain and France.

"On a scale of zero to 10, I'd say he's been an eight," Trump said when asked about a call with French President Emmanuel Macron.

"Not perfect -- but it's France."

Trump added of Macron that "I think he's going to help" -- and said he also believed Britain would be involved in a Hormuz mission.

- 'Oldest ally' -

But the US leader was harsher about Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has previously faced stinging criticism from Trump over Britain's refusal to send an aircraft carrier to the region.

"I was not happy with the UK. I think they'll be involved, yeah, maybe. But they should be involved enthusiastically," Trump said.

"I said... 'You're our oldest ally, and we spend a lot of money on, you know, NATO and all of these things to protect you.'"

Starmer said earlier that London was working with allies to craft a "viable" plan to reopen the strategic waterway but ruled out a NATO mission.

Trump meanwhile insisted that Iran itself was a "paper tiger" after two weeks of joint US-Israeli airstrikes, adding that Washington was unclear whom it could negotiate with in Tehran.

"We don't know... if he's dead or not," Trump said when asked about the condition of Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

"A lot of people are saying that he's badly disfigured. They're saying that he lost his leg -- one leg -- and he's, you know, been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he's dead. Nobody's saying he's 100 percent healthy," he said.

"We don't know who we're dealing with" in Iran, Trump said. "We don't know who their leader is."

R.Halabi--SF-PST