{"id":126241,"date":"2026-05-20T12:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=126241"},"modified":"2026-05-20T12:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:12:09","slug":"nato-mulling-role-in-strait-of-hormuz-says-top-commander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/","title":{"rendered":"Nato mulling role in Strait of Hormuz, says top commander"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BRUSSELS(National Times)- Nato\u2019s top comma\u00adnder said on Tuesday he was \u201cthinking\u201d about how the alliance could help in the Strait of Hormuz, but no formal planning had begun yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAm I thinking about it? Abs\u00adolutely. But there\u2019s no planning yet until the political decision is taken,\u201d US General Alexus Grynkewich, Nato\u2019s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">US President Donald Trump has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1999073\">blasted<\/a>&nbsp;Washington\u2019s European allies in Nato for their response to his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/live\/iran-israel-war\">war<\/a>&nbsp;on Iran \u2014 which has seen the crucial waterway closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">European countries spearheaded by Britain and France have been scrambling to put together a possible plan for how they could help keep the strait open if the war ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far US-led alliance Nato has steered clear of seeking any direct involvement in the conflict \u2014 despite pressure from Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEach nation is considering their response, with many, including Bel\u00adgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, sailing ships to the region,\u201d Grynkewich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe all agree it\u2019s in our interest to ensure freedom of navigation in international waters.\u201d European diplomats at Nato have played down the prospect of the alliance playing a major role in the strait given internal divisions. But they say it could be involved in some way in any eventual operations led by France or Britain if they materialise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The closure of the Strait of Hor\u00admuz has had a major impact on glo\u00adbal energy prices and is already taking a toll on economies in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>US troop cuts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US will pull more troops from Europe but the process will stretch over years to give allies time to develop capabilities to replace them, the Nato commander said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has decided to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1997003\">withdraw<\/a>&nbsp;some 5,000 troops from Germany and cancel deployment of long-range Tomahawk missiles. European officials were surprised by the timing of the troop announcement and by US officials linking it to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz\u2019s criticism of the US strategy in the Iran war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to reporters after a meeting of Nato military chiefs in Brussels, Grynkewich said the decision was the only such move he was aware of \u201cin the near-term\u201d and would not affect the alliance\u2019s ability to execute its defence plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">European governments say they have heeded Trump\u2019s call to spend more on defence and take more res\u00adponsibility for the continent\u2019s security. But they fear a hasty withdra\u00adwal of US troops and weapons could leave Europe vulnerable to a military attack from Russia, alt\u00adh\u00adough Moscow denies any such intention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Drawdown plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grynkewich said there would be further withdrawals of US troops in Europe, which number roughly 80,000, but that would happen as European forces grow to fill the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs the European pillar of the alliance gets stronger, this allows the US to reduce its presence in Europe and limit itself to providing only those critical capabilities that allies cannot yet provide,\u201d said Grynkewich. \u201cI can\u2019t really give you an exact timeline; it\u2019s going to be an ongoing process for several years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Europe would take more responsibility for conventional defence, this would happen \u201cwith continued critical backing from American capabilities, which are being adjusted,\u201d Grynkewich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nato relies on the US for a range of critical capabilities such as command and control systems, satellite-based intelligence and communications, strategic bombers and the US nuclear umbrella, officials and analysts say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BRUSSELS(National Times)- Nato\u2019s top comma\u00adnder said on Tuesday he was \u201cthinking\u201d about how the alliance could help in the Strait of Hormuz, but no formal planning had begun yet. \u201cAm I thinking about it? Abs\u00adolutely. But there\u2019s no planning yet until the political decision is taken,\u201d US General Alexus Grynkewich, Nato\u2019s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nato mulling role in Strait of Hormuz, says top commander - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nato mulling role in Strait of Hormuz, says top commander - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BRUSSELS(National Times)- Nato\u2019s top comma\u00adnder said on Tuesday he was \u201cthinking\u201d about how the alliance could help in the Strait of Hormuz, but no formal planning had begun yet. \u201cAm I thinking about it? 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But there\u2019s no planning yet until the political decision is taken,\u201d US General Alexus Grynkewich, Nato\u2019s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T07:12:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T07:12:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-44-7.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/\",\"name\":\"Nato mulling role in Strait of Hormuz, says top commander - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-44-7.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T07:12:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-20T07:12:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-44-7.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-44-7.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nato mulling role in Strait of Hormuz, says top commander\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nato mulling role in Strait of Hormuz, says top commander - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126241\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nato mulling role in Strait of Hormuz, says top commander - Nation","og_description":"BRUSSELS(National Times)- Nato\u2019s top comma\u00adnder said on Tuesday he was \u201cthinking\u201d about how the alliance could help in the Strait of Hormuz, but no formal planning had begun yet. \u201cAm I thinking about it? 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