NATO member countries are not obliged to assist the U.S. and Israel in opening the Strait of Hormuz and ensuring the safe passage of ships through this waterway, Turkey’s Trade Minister Omer Bolat said in an interview with Euronews.
"So far there has been no indication that," he said in response to a related question.
"NATO countries apparently chose to remain silent amid the extremely important conflict over Iran, primarily because no one consulted the NATO members whether to attack Iran or not," Omer Bolat said.
According to him, NATO countries had hoped that the U.S. and Israeli operation against the Islamic Republic would be "short-lived, but it didn’t." They didn’t think of "very negative effects" on their economies, on the world economy. They through that this was an operation only to be carried out for the interests of Israel, not for NATO’s interests, nor for the world’s good, the minister emphasized.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte informed several EU leaders that U.S. President Donald Trump wants them to commit to participating in a mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
