LONDON: The US defence chief on Thursday pressed NATO allies to join Washington's efforts to ensure the safety of ships in the Gulf after a spate of recent attacks.
“We will work to ensure freedom of navigation in the Arabian Gulf,” US Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on Thursday in Brussels.
Esper said he urged allies to "consider public statements condemning Iran's bad behaviour and making the point that we need to have freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz".
He also pressed them to consider creating a coalition, saying they should "look at everything from broader maritime surveillance - and that should include air surveillance - all the way up to a pickup line of ships to help protect the international waterways and to include maybe even escorts".
He added that the US wants its allies to participate in a maritime safety mission in the Gulf if possible.
Earlier on Thursday, Esper told NATO allies the United States held Iran responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman but did not want the situation to escalate.
"His first words were: we don't want to go to war with Iran," one diplomat said. "Esper also made clear that this is about the limit (of what the United States will tolerate from Iran), that nothing more should happen now," a second diplomat said.
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference after the meeting: "One important message is that the United States has so clearly stated that they don't want a war. They actually said very clearly that they are ready to talk with Iran without a precondition."
A week after US President Donald Trump called off air strikes on Iran minutes before impact, European defence ministers led by France sought to use their first formal NATO meeting with Esper to cool the confrontation between Washington and Tehran, diplomats said.
Some five NATO countries spoke after Esper in the NATO meeting. French Defence Minister Florence Parly told Esper not to involve the NATO alliance in any military mission in the Gulf. Together with Germany and other European allies, France also made a plea to uphold the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.
Washington has ratcheted up crippling economic sanctions on Tehran after the country's forces shot down a US drone in the Gulf region, following a series of attacks on tankers that Washington blames on Iran.
NATO defence ministers discussed the crisis in Brussels, where Esper said he sought to "internationalise" the Iran issue, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week called for a "global coalition" to deal with Tehran.
Many European countries have been alarmed at the Trump administration's hawkish approach to Iran, fearing the US policy of "maximum pressure" is counterproductive and could lead to war.
The EU has sought desperately to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Trump withdrew from last year, with its three European signatories Britain, France and Germany leading the efforts.
Any NATO involvement in the Gulf would need unanimous support from all 29 member states, and given European uneasiness this would be extremely difficult to achieve.
