South Korea Reviews Hormuz Deployment Under American Pressure
Seoul is weighing sending a patrol aircraft, naval logistics ship and explosives-disposal team to the Strait of Hormuz, Korean outlets reported — though the presidential office insisted “nothing related to the matter has been decided” while confirming the review continues, citing “practical contributions for the speedy restoration of free navigation”. South Korea imports about 70% of its crude through the strait; Mr Trump has complained publicly that President Lee told him “No, thanks” on Iran.
Seoul’s squirming is the war’s alliance politics in miniature: a country with the most acute Hormuz dependency of any US ally — seven barrels in ten — calculating whether the danger of joining Washington’s convoy war exceeds the danger of an angry White House, with last month’s abbreviated joint exercises showing what displeasure costs. The equipment list under review is deliberately defensive — a patrol plane, a supply ship, mine-clearance divers — assembled to satisfy the letter of participation while keeping Korean hulls out of Iranian crosshairs. Every middle power watching the Falklands exchange this same morning will draw the identical lesson: American security guarantees now carry an itemised bill. Watch Japan — Tokyo faces the same demand with the same dependency, and whichever capital moves first sets the other’s price.