President Trump requested this past week that our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “allies” assist in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, safe, and passable for oil tankers. One of the dangers in the Strait is the placement by the Iranian military of mines in the waterway. European countries are said to possess abundant minesweepers, and this assistance would ease the burden on our armed forces which are also engaged in other far-flung parts of the world. But our so-called allies have thus far refused, or, at best, offered only empty lip service in support of the effort to keep the Strait open, from which they benefit far more than does the U.S.