Alexander Stubb, a golf buddy of the U.S. president, says it’s a “really good idea” to try to bargain with Trump, who wants Europe to help him open the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump loves to make deals, and one of his closest confidants in Europe believes a pact might be within reach that could help solve both the Gulf oil crisis and the war in Ukraine in one go.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb says he can see real potential in offering Trump what he wants: European military support to secure the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial oil shipping route that Iran has effectively blockaded in response to American and Israeli bombing.
Europe’s condition for providing such assistance? That the U.S. president delivers all the help Ukraine needs to reach an acceptable peace deal with Russia.
Stubb knows Trump would never increase help for Ukraine. He also knows that the US has in the last few weeks burned through an ungodly amount of military stock that would have been useful to Ukraine. Even if Trump does a 180-degree on Ukraine, those interceptors are now gone.
This is more about providing EU with an explicit transactional reason (that Trump admin might understand) for refusing to get involved in the Iran debacle the US and Israel have gotten themselves into.