Allies Push to Reopen Hormuz as U.S. Weighs Renewed Iran Strikes

Allies Move to Reopen Hormuz as U.S. Signals It Could Strike Iran Again

The effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz broadened on Tuesday as Australia said it would join a new British- and French-led multinational mission to restore shipping through the waterway, even as Washington signaled it believed it could resume military action against Iran without returning to Congress for new authorization.

The twin developments underscored how a conflict that began as a direct U.S.-Iran confrontation has widened into a larger test of allied coordination, regional security and global energy stability. They also arrived as the Pentagon said the price of the war had climbed to about $29 billion, a sharp increase from the roughly $25 billion estimate it gave lawmakers just two weeks ago.

Australia’s defense minister, Richard Marles, said Canberra intended to contribute an E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft to the defensive operation in the Gulf, adding that the government had not ruled out sending further assets. The aircraft, already deployed to the region since March, is designed for airborne early warning and battle management, giving coalition forces a clearer picture of air and maritime activity around one of the world’s most heavily trafficked chokepoints.

Marles said Australia wanted to see the conflict end and freedom of navigation resume. The longer the crisis continued, he said, the greater the impact would be on Australia.

The Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman, is one of the world’s most important energy arteries. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has said that roughly a fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption passes through it. Even partial disruption there can reverberate quickly through oil markets, shipping insurance costs and consumer fuel prices far from the Gulf.

Rising Costs, Unsettled Legal Questions

In Washington on Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that the Trump administration did not believe it would need fresh congressional approval if it chose to restart strikes on Iran, a position likely to intensify an already bitter debate over war powers as the conflict enters its third month.

The current war began on Feb. 28 with U.S.-initiated hostilities. President Trump later informed Congress on May 1 that those hostilities had “terminated,” but he stopped short of ruling out renewed military action. Hegseth has argued that the cease-fire effectively pauses or halts the War Powers clock, an interpretation that has drawn skepticism from lawmakers in both parties, who say the Constitution gives Congress a central role in authorizing sustained military operations.

At the same hearing, Jules Hurst III, the Pentagon’s chief financial official, said the department now estimated the war’s cost at closer to $29 billion. That figure, officials suggested, is still provisional, with longer-term expenses — including replacing munitions and maintaining forces in the region — likely to push the total higher.

The rising bill is becoming politically significant at home even as the military mission remains unresolved abroad. A short campaign was once presented as containable. Instead, it is producing an expanding coalition operation, open-ended force commitments and a mounting tab.

A Broader Gulf Security Problem

The military picture in the Gulf is also becoming more complicated.

Iranian officials have signaled that they now see the Strait of Hormuz less as a narrow passage and more as a broad operational zone, hinting at a wider geographic scope for pressure or disruption. That shift has heightened concern among shipping companies and governments that even an eventual reopening effort could carry significant risks.

At the same time, the war appears to be reshaping the calculations of Arab Gulf states that had long tried to avoid being drawn directly into a confrontation with Tehran. Reports have indicated that the United Arab Emirates may have secretly carried out attacks on Iran during the conflict, a claim that has not been fully corroborated publicly but has raised the prospect of Emirati territory or assets becoming targets if the cease-fire collapses. Kuwait, meanwhile, said it had detained four alleged members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who it said were attempting attacks on Bubiyan Island, a strategically located Kuwaiti island near Iraq and Iran.

Taken together, those developments suggest that the crisis is no longer confined to naval escorts and airstrikes. It is increasingly affecting the internal security decisions of Gulf monarchies, many of which host Western forces while trying to preserve room for diplomacy with Tehran.

Why Australia’s Move Matters

Australia’s contribution may be modest in size, but it carries strategic and political weight. The Wedgetail is a high-end surveillance platform, and Canberra’s decision aligns another U.S. ally with the emerging European-led effort to protect commercial passage through Hormuz. It also signals that governments far outside the Middle East now see the disruption as a direct economic threat.

That is especially true for countries vulnerable to higher fuel costs and shipping volatility. With inventories tightening and oil prices elevated, the longer the strait remains restricted, the harder it becomes for governments to insulate households and businesses from the fallout.

Much remains unclear: when the British- and French-led mission will become fully operational, whether additional countries will send naval or air assets, and whether the United States would in fact restart strikes without seeking Congress’s blessing. There is also the unanswered question of how Iran will respond if a larger coalition presence begins to challenge its pressure campaign around Hormuz.

But the direction of travel is increasingly clear. What began as a war between Washington and Tehran is becoming a wider international effort to keep open a vital maritime corridor — with the financial, legal and geopolitical costs still rising.