Name: Gulf Crisis escalates: Is Trump pushing NATO into war? | To The Point
Uploaded: 2026-03-19T17:04:42.000Z
Duration: 26 min 5 s
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Despite the killing of three more high ranking commanders, Iran's ruling clerics show no sign of backing down and are now threatening global retaliation.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is turning up the pressure on NATO and demanding that his allied nations introduce and provide naval escorts for oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

At the same time, the island of Khark is coming into the crosshairs of US Forces.

Most of Iran's oil exports pass through this hut hub and any strike on its facilities would hit the country hard.

But what is clear is Russia's Vladimir Putin is the one benefiting most.

Rising oil shortages mean rising prices and every explosion sends more money into a war chest already strained by the conflict in Ukraine.

On to the point we ask, standoff in Iran.

Robert Chatterjee is a journalist and Middle east expert based in Berlin.

He is the deputy editor in chief of Zenith magazine.

Thorsten Benna is the co founder and director of the Global Public Policy Institute here in Berlin.

He is specialized in security policy and global order.

And Christina Kausch is the deputy managing of the German Marshal Fund of the United States, joining us from Madrid.

To all of you, welcome and thank you for being with us today.

This last week has seen the biggest escalation in the Middle east since the beginning of the Iran war with the killing of three other senior Iranian officials, the bombing of Kharak island, and

Was this scale of the conflict foreseeable?

It was foreseeable because it was always clear that Iran would use this Strait of Hormuz as its biggest geostrategic leverage.

And a lot of people have warned for good reasons about that scenario, including the Gulf states who are bearing now the brunt of this war.

And so far, there's no surprise at all, either for the war itself or its economic repercussions on a global stage.

We've heard Donald Trump say once again that the war in Iran is a short one and that it's almost over.

How deeply involved is the United States right now?

Well, Donald Trump has been shifting its war aims and therefore also the scope of the projected scope of the war in the tact of minutes.

So Right now oscillating from regime change towards annihilation of Iranian capacities.

And right now, I think the focus is on two fronts.

One is to diminish and to destroy as much as possible Iranian missile capacity and aggressive capacity, and

And that's a very clear focus right now, narrative focus, reopening the Strait of homosexuals.

I mean, some boats pass through, but not Western ones.

So given the very, very strong impact on the global economy that is growing exponentially the longer this standoff lasts, this is, I think, right now the main focus.

And it's a focus that the US doesn't want to go alone on, apparently.

But we've also heard shifting voices from the US President lashing out at his allies, tossed in, including NATO, for refusing to take direct action.

No European ally was consulted on this war.

This war is conducted by the US In a catastrophic fashion.

We talked about the unclear war aims, the failure to foresee the consequences for the global economy, and

how Iran would retaliate while Israel is happy to bomb a regime that threatens its annihilation.

It's not an alliance where allies join in a war of aggression against Iran so that no ally is super trigger happy to get on board, whatever the mission would be.

Although we all have an interest in stabilizing things.

I think the Chancellor, German Chancellor, has said very directly we have an interest in this ending.

We have no stakes in the Iranian regime surviving, but

we need a diplomatic solution to the Strait of Hormuz.

So that's the position of most European allies right now.

And I think it's a fairly sensible position, of course, with potential retaliation on the part of the US President, but

Yeah, we'll certainly delve into that later on.

At first we'd like to take a closer look at what's at stake.

The confrontation between the United States and Iran has certainly entered a new and dangerous phase.

After US Airstrikes on the strategically vital island of Khark, Donald Trump is now openly signaling that Iran's oil infrastructure could be next.

Is Khark the key pressure point in this high stakes power struggle?

Could it be the spark, rather, that could push the conflict into even more parallel territory?

The Islamic Republic's lifeline under attack.

US Military images show multiple bombs striking Kharg, Iran's main oil hub.

The Actual oil production sites were spared for now.

This would cut off Iran's main revenue, Trump's bargaining chip to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

If he follows through on his threat, the shock would hit an already strained global order.

OIL MARKET with China, the biggest buyer of Iranian crude oil, bearing the brunt.

But Brussels holds firm, with Germany's chancellor at the forefront.

Meanwhile, US Marines are reportedly heading to the Persian Gulf amid speculation they could target Cog Island.

Power games over Black gold is Kag Trump's trump card.

Iran, as we've seen, is successfully holding the oil markets hostage in this war.

If Trump, or the United States for that matter, seize or destroy the oil facilities and the oil terminal in Khark, I'd like to know first if you think that's going to happen, and

Depending on how you look at it, you could also say that the US And Israel are holding the oil markets hostage.

Now, this of course, would be an escalation, but

we already seen the escalation on the ground because the Israelis, they bombed the South Pas field, the biggest oil field in the world that is shared by Iran and Qatar.

The Iranians answered in kind and attacked the Yanbu port, which is on the Red Sea and is a choke point for oil from all the Gulf countries into Europe.

So we already see the escalation, but also the escalation being matched.

So the question, just back to question, what would be the next escalation step?

Because we already seen this escalation cycle play out right now, we understand that the US did not necessarily applaud that bombing of oil facilities.

Do you think the US And Israel have different goals or ultimate goals in this war?

Beginning with the Americans, as we said, have shifting goals, if any, and

they're more perturning to interior motivations than exterior.

Israel also has interior motivations, but

this war is more in the context of their ongoing regional war and should be more seen in the context, especially what they're doing in Lebanon and the west bank and also in Gaza.

I think they want to get out with a safe facing solution, that doesn't mean that they get the Israelis to stop this war.

And as we see, the Israelis have been the driving force during the last two or three weeks of warfare, and

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Gulf Crisis escalates: Is Trump pushing NATO into war? | To The Point

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