European allies have rebuffed US President Donald Trump’s demand to send warships to help escort commercial vessels through the volatile Strait of Hormuz.

In response to Trump, Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said: “This is not our war, we have not started it.”

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said reopening the strait would not be a NATO mission.

On Monday (local time), Trump said he was “not happy” about Starmer’s reluctance to get involved in the Iran war. Trump said Starmer had told him he was meeting his team before making a decision about helping with the Strait of Hormuz.

“I said, ‘You don’t need to meet up with the team. You’re the Prime Minister. You can make your own — why do you have to meet with your team to find out whether or not you’re going to send some minesweepers to us or to send some boats?’. I said, ‘You don’t have to meet with your team’.”

Australia has already declared it won’t send naval ships to the Gulf.

“We won’t be sending a ‌ship to the Strait of Hormuz. We know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something that we’ve been asked or that we’re ‌contributing to,” ‌Transport Minister Catherine ⁠King told the ABC on Monday.

Trump said he was “demanding” that countries help keep the vital shipping route open as it comes under fire from neighbouring Iran.

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He warned NATO had a “very bad” future if allies didn’t heed his request.

Trump said “numerous” countries had indicated they were on their way, but he did not state which.

“Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years,” he said.

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“We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm matters to me.”

The Trump administration planned to announce as early as this week that multiple countries had agreed to form ​a coalition to escort ships through the narrow waterway, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US officials.

Trump also said Washington was in contact with Iran but expressed doubt that Tehran was prepared for serious negotiations to end the conflict.

US officials responding to economic uncertainty over high oil prices predicted on Sunday the war on Iran would end within weeks and a drop in energy costs ⁠would follow. That was despite Iran’s assertion that it remains “stable and strong” and ready to defend ‌itself.

Trump had threatened ​more strikes on Iran’s main oil export hub Kharg Island over the weekend and said he wasn’t ready to reach a deal to end the ​war that had ‌shut off the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump, who on Friday said ​the ​US navy would “soon” start escorting oil tankers, has said Iran ​wanted to negotiate. On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi disputed that claim.

“We ‌have never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiations,” Araqchi told CBS’s Face the Nation program.

“We are ready to defend ourselves for as long as it takes.”

With crude oil prices hitting to $US105.90 ($151.53) ​a barrel ‌ on Monday, Trump administration officials insisted that all signs pointed to a relatively quick end to the conflict.

“This conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks — could be sooner than that … and we’ll see a rebound in supplies and a ​pushing down of prices after that,” US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC’s This Week program.

Aussie aid appeal

As conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate, millions of people across the region are being displaced amid a growing humanitarian crisis.

Australia’s leading aid agencies have launched a public appeal to raise urgent funds to support relief efforts in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank.

“Thousands of people who’ve been killed or injured, millions of people have been displaced from their homes, and tens of millions are living in fear,” Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler said.

“The humanitarian needs couldn’t be more urgent.

“We’re asking for the Australian public to show their generosity and goodwill to help people in this terrible situation overseas.”

According to the International Organisation for Migration, almost one million people have been forced to flee their homes in Lebanon as a result of the war.

In Iran, more than 3.2 million people have been displaced, with reports of about 1300 people killed and over 9000 injured since the conflict started in late February.

People in war-torn Gaza and Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and the West Bank are also being impacted, as aid lines are cut, severing access to food, clean water, fuel and medical supplies, and refugees cross borders.

Australian donations to the appeal will help the charities provide food, shelter, water, sanitation, medical and school, as well as support families “who are living with basically nothing right now”.

“We get that Aussies are doing it tough and we get that this is a long way from home, but what happens overseas matters for us as Australians,” Tinkler said.

“We’re asking them to dig deep and give whatever they can.”

The 15 charities behind the joint Middle East Appeal are: Save the Children Australia, Plan International Australia, Oxfam Australia, Australia for UNHCR, ActionAid, CARE Australia, Caritas Australia, ADRA, Act for Peace, Anglican Overseas Aid, Australian Lutheran World Service, Baptist World Aid, CBM, ChildFund Australia and Tearfund.

-with AAP/Reuters