Nato countries have rejected the call by US president Donald Trump to send warships to escort shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The US-Israeli war on Iran is in its third week, largely shutting the strait, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flow, raising energy prices and fears of inflation.

British prime minister Keir Starmer said he was working with allies on a viable plan to reopen the waterway – but insisted it would not be a Nato mission.

A similar message came from German chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“We lack the mandate from the United Nations, the European Union or Nato. It was therefore clear from the outset that this war is not a matter for Nato,” he said, stressing that Germany was not consulted by either the US or Israel before they began their campaign.

The rejection came despite Trump’s threat that Nato faces a “very bad” future should its member states fail to help secure pᴀssage through the strategic waterway off the Iranian coast.

Speaking at the White House on Monday night, Trump said several countries had agreed to deploy ᴀssets to ensure the Strait of Hormuz is open, but agreed that some countries were not enthusiastic.

“The level of enthusiasm matters to me,” he said. “For 40 years we’re protecting you, and you don’t want to get involved for something very minor?”

Trump also said the US has hit 7,000 targets and sunk more than 100 ships so far. “They have been literally obliterated. The US and Israel are doing what should have been done many years ago”, he said.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz remained open. “It is only closed to our enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies,” he said.

The fighting continued on day 17 of the war. The US and Israel hit more regime targets across Iran while Tehran responded with rocket and drone strikes at Israel and Arab Gulf states.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that an air-force strike in Tehran had destroyed a “space-related compound” used to “develop attack capabilities against satellites, posing a threat to Israel’s satellites and to space ᴀssets of other countries around the world”.