Good morning. World leaders aren’t keen to help Donald Trump get the Strait of Hormuz back open – more on that below, along with Canada’s household debt and Doug Ford’s hidden phone records. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Israel expands its ground invasion of southern Lebanon to try to eliminate Hezbollah fighters
- A judge granted bail to an Alberta man accused of sexual assault without giving a reason
- When generic versions of weight-loss drugs arrive, public plans should cover them, experts say
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A crew works on a heavy bomber at a British air base yesterday.Leon Neal/Getty Images
World
Strait talk
U.S. President Donald Trump is caught between two very powerful forces: the Iran war’s worsening economic fallout and his own colossal ego.
More than two weeks after the United States and Israel first launched their attacks on Tehran, the conflict has caused the biggest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. With Iran effectively shuttering the Strait of Hormuz, choking the flow of Middle Eastern fuel, crude prices have jumped 40 per cent since February – and the costs of food, electronics and household items will soon follow. It’s bad enough that, over the weekend, Trump took a belated stab at coalition-building, demanding other countries send warships to help reopen the waterway.
But by yesterday afternoon, he had junked the whole notion that their services were required. “We don’t need anybody; we’re the strongest nation in the world,” Trump insisted at a White House event. He instead positioned his call for outside help as a way to gauge the loyalty of America’s allies. “I’m almost doing it in some cases not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react.”
Well, they didn’t react with a ton of enthusiasm. Germany came out with the bluntest rejection of military aid in the Strait of Hormuz: “This is not our war. We did not start it,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said yesterday, before wondering what Trump expected from a few European ships “that the mighty U.S. Navy cannot manage alone.” Stefan Kornelius, a spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, was quick to remind reporters, “Washington explicitly stated at the start of this war that European assistance was neither necessary nor desired.”
The foreign ministers from France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Poland all ruled out any role in patrolling the strait. So did top officials from Australia, Japan, Luxembourg and the European Union. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hedged a little, saying he was working on “a viable plan” to safeguard maritime traffic, but no details were provided and no decisions have been made. Starmer then emphasized that his country “will not be drawn into the wider war.”
Donald Trump said he didn't really want help from U.S. allies after all.Alex Brandon/The Associated Press
Several outlets have reported that Trump vastly underestimated Iran’s willingness to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed. Not so, the U.S. President repeatedly said yesterday – he was clear all along that the route would pose a major challenge. “I knew about the strait, that it would be a weapon, which I predicted a long time ago,” he contended. Trump then noted, for good measure, that he also “predicted Osama bin Laden would knock out the World Trade Center. One year before exactly, I wrote it in a book.” (That’s not actually true.)
Missing from all this prognostication, though, was any sign of how the current war could end. He sidestepped a question about what a deal with Iran might look like. He did say he was open to talks, but immediately added that “we don’t even know their leaders,” because everyone on the White House’s radar has been killed. “We have people wanting to negotiate,” Trump said. “We have no idea who they are.”
European officials weren’t particularly satisfied with that response. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters yesterday that it’s crucial for the U.S. and Israel to define “when they consider the military aims of their deployment to have been reached.” His Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, echoed the desire to understand Trump’s strategy better. “What will be the plan?”
It’s hard to say: The rationale for Trump’s attacks on Iran keeps shifting, as does the time frame for any sort of U.S. withdrawal. Trump has variously said the campaign would last two or three days, or perhaps a few weeks, or maybe a month and a half. Last Friday, he landed on a new schedule altogether. The war will be over, he told Fox News, “when I feel it – feel it in my bones.”
The Shot
‘We’re taking over back here.’
Canadian Maggie Kang with her KPop Demon Hunters co-director Chris Appelhans.Evan Agostini/The Associated Press
Canadian artists had a stellar night at Sunday’s Oscars, bringing home the golden statue in four separate categories. But Barry Hertz argues that Canada’s triumph means nothing if we don’t keep funding our homegrown filmmakers.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Ontario Premier Doug Ford said complying with freedom of information requests would violate the privacy of citizens who contact him.
Abroad: With oil prices surging and U.S. sanctions temporarily lifted, the war in the Middle East has handed one gift after another to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Votes: The Longest Ballot Committee is collecting signatures to protest the April by-election in Terrebonne, Que. – a race decided by a single vote last year.
Debts: Canadian households now owe $1.77 for every dollar of disposable income, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report.
Tech: Bell Canada’s parent company, BCE, plans to spend $1.7-billion to build an AI data centre in rural Saskatchewan.
Talk: The oldest-known recording of a humpback whale could unlock the mysteries of the ocean.