In a bold statement, former United States President Donald Trump has called on countries that did not support U.S.-Israeli actions against Iran to purchase American oil and assert themselves in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump specifically criticized the United Kingdom and France for their lack of involvement in the conflict that has disrupted global markets, escalated energy prices, and led to Iran’s strategic closure of the Strait to oil tanker traffic.

Addressing these nations, Trump suggested, “For those unable to secure jet fuel due to the Strait of Hormuz situation, like the United Kingdom, which opted out of Iran’s decapitation, I propose two options: first, buy oil from the U.S., as we have an abundance; second, muster some courage and go to the Strait to take what you need.”

“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us.

“The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”

He also criticised France for not letting planes carrying military supplies to Israel fly over French territory.

Australia responds

Australia has no plans to send troops to the Middle East, despite Trump’s remarks overnight.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the government does not respond to every comment from Trump, but that the ongoing fuel crisis has prompted continued calls for de-escalation in the conflict.

He told ABC TV there were no plans to send Australian troops to the Middle East, admitting “no one really knows” how long the war will rage on.

“We’ve seen some encouraging remarks over the last several hours from the Iranian president as well as the Americans that they do want to see this wound down sooner rather than later,” he said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he was concerned about how the conflict was impacting Australia domestically.

“From an economic point of view, the end of this war can’t come soon enough,” he told reporters at a press conference in Canberra.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Ted O’Brien said the Coalition was open to sending Australian assets and personnel to help reopen the waterway.

“The key question is, is it in our national interest? And in my view, yes it is,” he told ABC.

“The second question is, what can we contribute in a material sense. That part of the equation, we are yet to understand.

“We should be open to making a contribution to assets or personnel or both. Well again let’s wait to see what is being asked of us.”

Opposition leader Angus Taylor said the strait needed to be opened to lower fuel prices.

He added that the government had not been transparent about what requests the US had submitted and questioned whether it was feasible to send assets to the Middle East.

“One thing I know is the government has underinvested in our defence force in this country and it’s meant for years there is not the money that there needs to be in sustaining our military capability,” Taylor said.

Israel threatens to destroy Lebanese homes on border

Trump’s comments came as Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Israel would destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the border and 600,000 people who fled the south would not be allowed home until northern Israel is secure.

Katz reiterated Israeli plans to establish a ‘buffer zone’ in southern Lebanon, saying that it would maintain control over a swathe of territory up to the Litani River once the war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group ended.

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced and 1,200 have been killed since Israel launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon against Hezbollah on 2 March, ignited by the group’s decision to open fire in support of Iran.

Israel says its current military operation in southern Lebanon is intended to expand the security buffer zone until Hezbollah’s threat to Israel is eliminated. The Lebanese government has described the operation as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

The Litani River meets the Mediterranean about 30km north of Israel’s border, and the area between it and the Israeli border amounts to nearly 10 per cent of Lebanon’s territory.

Earlier this month, the Israeli military ordered residents to leave swathes of the south, the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, and the group’s political heartlands in eastern Lebanon.

“All houses in villages near the Lebanese border will be destroyed, in accordance with the model used in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza, in order to permanently remove the threats near the border to northern residents,” Katz said.

European countries called on Israel to avoid further escalation, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Israel’s occupation of Lebanese territory was a “violation of their territorial sovereignty”.

Lebanon’s minister of social affairs Haneen Sayed said that Israel’s ground invasion, which she described as a “land grab”, was deepening the risk that Lebanese would be stuck in long-term displacement.

Iran has ‘necessary will’ to end war

It comes as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran had the “necessary will” to end the war with the US and Israel, but it was seeking guarantees the conflict would not flare up again.

The comment by the head of state — which boosted markets in the United States — came after a day of heavy strikes on Iran and followed a tough warning from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Guards threatened to retaliate against leading US tech firms such as Google, Meta and Apple from Wednesday if more Iranian leaders were killed in “targeted assassinations”.

The Guards accused 18 companies, also including Intel, Tesla and analytics firm Palantir, of being complicit in previous killings and warned they “should expect the destruction of their relevant units in exchange for every assassination in Iran”.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war on 28 February, killing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and setting off a wave of retaliatory attacks across the region.

Trump has since zigzagged on whether Washington plans to further escalate the war that has roiled the world economy — possibly by deploying US ground forces — or try to end it through negotiations with Tehran.

Pezeshkian, in a phone call with the president of the European Council, said Iran had “the necessary will to end this conflict, provided that essential conditions are met — especially the guarantees required to prevent repetition of the aggression”.

Responding to a 15-point US plan to end the war last week, Iran had put forward a counter-proposal demanding a mechanism guaranteeing that Israel and the US would not return to war.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking earlier after he visited US troops in the Middle East, vowed that “the upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there’s almost nothing they can militarily do about it”.

Asked about next steps, Hegseth said that “you can’t fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do, or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground”.

Trump had threatened Monday that if Iran didn’t agree to a deal, US forces would “obliterate” all of its oil wells, its main Kharg Island export terminal, and possibly its water desalination plants.

On Tuesday, heavy strikes hit Iran, including the central city of Isfahan and Tehran, where blasts occurred and air defences were activated.

Iranian state media also reported damage to a Shia religious centre in Zanjan, while the government said airstrikes had hit a plant making cancer drugs and anaesthetics, claims that could not be independently verified.

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