Trump also told the Financial Times that he could postpone a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for late March, if Beijing does not help unblock a key waterway carrying a fifth of the world's oil.
"It's only appropriate that the people who benefit from the strait help make sure nothing bad happens there. If there's no response, or if there's a negative response, I think it's going to be very bad for the future of NATO," Trump said, noting that Europe and China are heavily dependent on oil from the Persian Gulf countries, unlike the United States.
"Team effort"
Trump had previously called on China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK to join a "team effort" to open the Strait of Hormuz to ships, which had been blocked by Iranian forces, but was pessimistic that US allies would heed his pleas for help.
"We have something called NATO. We were very kind. We didn't have to help them with Ukraine. Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us... But we helped them. Now we'll see if they're going to help us. Because I've said a long time ago that we'll be there for them, but they won't be there for us. And I'm not sure they would be there," Trump said.
"The Allies should send minesweepers"
When asked to specify what kind of help he needed, Trump said that allies should send minesweepers, of which Europe has many more than the United States, as well as European commandos or other military assistance to eliminate the Iranians who are blocking the Persian Gulf with drones and naval mines.
"We're hitting them very hard. They have nothing but trouble in the Strait, but these people are users and they should help us control it. We'll help them. But they should be there too. It takes a lot of people to monitor a few," Trump pointed out.
Beijing's position
The US president also said he expects China to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, before traveling to Beijing at the end of this month to meet with Xi Jinping, which would be his first trip to China in his second term.
"I think China should help too because China gets 90 percent of its oil from the strait," Trump said.
He added that the US would like to know before his planned trip to China what Beijing's position is.
"We wish we knew before then. That's a long time. We might delay," said Trump, who is scheduled to travel to Beijing in two weeks.
Disappointment with Great Britain
After speaking with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier on Sunday, Trump expressed particular disappointment with the UK's response so far.
"The UK could be considered the number one ally, the longest-standing ally and so on, and when I asked them to come, they didn't want to come. And as soon as we basically eliminated Iran's threat capability, they said, 'Okay, we'll send two ships,' and I said, 'We need these ships before we win, not after we win.' I've been saying for a long time that NATO is a one-way street," Trump said.
Trump added that any danger to allies moving their forces to the Persian Gulf would be minimal, as the US and Israel have destroyed Iran's military capabilities in the past two weeks.
"We've basically decimated Iran. They have no navy, they have no air defense, they have no air force, everything is gone. The only thing they can do is cause a little trouble by laying mines in the water - a nuisance, but a nuisance can cause problems," Trump said.
"US ready to launch new attacks on Harg Island"
He warned that the US was ready to launch new attacks on Kharg Island, Iran's oil export hub, and could target its oil infrastructure.
"You saw yesterday that we hit Harg Island, everything except the pipe (of the oil pipeline). We can hit it in five minutes. And there's nothing they can do about it," Trump said.
When asked if Russia was helping Iran with satellite data to target American and Israeli missile shields, Trump said he "didn't know either way."
"But you could also say that we helped Ukraine to some extent. It's hard to say, 'You're targeting us, but we were helping Ukraine.' So it's hard to say, 'What are you doing' when we were doing the same thing," Trump concluded.
