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Hungarian minister: We’d consider sending soldiers if Trump asked us to, Orbán: This is nonsense
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A single sentence has triggered a political storm in Hungary. It exposed tensions within the government and fuelled opposition attacks over its long-standing “pro-peace” narrative.
Gulyás: Hungary would “consider” helping Trump
At Thursday’s Government Info briefing, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás was asked whether Donald Trump had requested Hungarian assistance in securing the Strait of Hormuz.
He said no request had been made. However, when pressed on a hypothetical scenario, Gulyás added that if such a request were made, Hungary would “consider” providing help, 444.hu writes.
This brief exchange quickly escalated into a major political controversy, as it suggested, even hypothetically, that Hungary could weigh military involvement in a Middle Eastern conflict.
Orbán dismisses comment as “nonsense”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded sharply when questioned in Brussels, calling Gulyás’s remark “nonsense”.
When asked to confirm whether he was referring to his minister’s statement, Orbán doubled down, saying yes. He added a sarcastic remark: Hungary could consider such involvement “if we had a sea and a navy”.
The unusually blunt rebuke stands out in Hungarian politics, where senior government figures are rarely criticised so openly by the prime minister.
Foreign minister also contradicts Gulyás
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also moved to contain the situation, stating that no request had been made by the United States and dismissing the discussion as speculative.
Speaking at a public forum, Szijjártó insisted: “You cannot expect something like that from us.” He reiterated that Hungary would not send troops, aligning himself with Orbán’s position.
Opposition seizes on remark
Opposition leader Péter Magyar reacted almost immediately, accusing the government of hypocrisy.
He argued that Gulyás’s statement effectively meant Hungary could send troops abroad if requested by the US president, claiming it undermined the government’s repeated messaging that it is firmly against war.
The opposition has since amplified the clip across social media, framing it as proof that the government’s “peace policy” is conditional.
Echoes of past campaign rhetoric
The controversy has also revived memories of the 2022 election campaign, when ruling party figures heavily criticised opposition candidate Péter Márki-Zay for saying Hungary could provide military assistance if required under NATO decisions.
At the time, such statements were used to portray the opposition as “pro-war”: a line of attack that analysts say now risks backfiring on the government.
Analysts: damage to core campaign message
Political analysts warn that the episode could harm the government’s central campaign narrative.
According to experts cited by 24.hu, Gulyás’s comment directly contradicts the ruling party’s long-standing anti-war positioning, potentially weakening its credibility among voters.
If you missed it:
Oops, that shot really backfired!
What about the TEK commandos? You know the ones protecting Orban who got in a car crash and had to be rescued. They wouldn’t last two minutes once they got there. This is all a no-win situation for Orban who has made Donald Trump is best friend forever. Now the Iranians are threatening world-wide terrorist attacks. Orban said “Peace has a name -Donald Trump” He’s bringing everyone a “Golden Age”, and all the rest of the absolute bunk that the Hungarian sheep believed. Well, there’s your peace suckers. We wouldn’t be in this absolute crisis if Kamela Harris was president but no ….Donald Trump is “so great”. He’s bringing you PEACE!
It’s time for Orban to get out there and tell everyone again what a wonderful guy wanted war criminal Netanyahu is who pushed Trump into this mindless war.
I’m really not so sure that it was Israel and not Trump himself. His insatiable need for recognition is like a bottomless barrel.
1. Trump
The narcissistic, completely out-of-touch chaos-monger Trump is once again showing his true colors.
US President Donald Trump has again called NATO allies “cowards” for their failure to help secure oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Without the US, the defense alliance is a toothless tiger, the Republican wrote on the platform Truth Social. He accused the allies of not participating in the fight against Iran’s nuclear armament.
My note: But there’s still hope that Hungary will help. 🙂
Now that the battle has been “WON” militarily, they’re complaining about high oil prices, but they won’t help open the Strait of Hormuz. “It would be so easy for them and involve very little risk. COWARDS, we’ll REMEMBER that!” Trump continued.
And now this!
“We are considering scaling back our extensive efforts in the Middle East with respect to the terrorist regime in Iran,” Donald Trump announced on his “TruthSocial” platform this evening.
And then he added insult to injury!
The Strait of Hormuz must be “guarded and controlled by other nations if necessary,” Trump wrote – “the U.S. is not doing that!”
One might suspect something amiss.
I expected nothing less from him. First, start a war without defined objectives, don’t inform any of the allies beforehand, let alone discuss it with them, and then, when it all goes wrong, as it has now, let others clean up the mess.
This was already evident when Trump called on NATO allies to help with mine clearance, even though he supposedly didn’t need any assistance. This would have meant that the others would have taken over the dangerous mission on the ground (the dirty work), while the US, with its aircraft far away, would have mostly just observed the situation from above, since it has hardly any mine-clearing vehicles on site. And the others would then have had to explain to their own population why there were so many casualties among their own soldiers, since they were sitting ducks in the Strait of Hormuz, as if on a silver platter for Iran.
Trump is probably in deep trouble.
The US has temporarily eased sanctions on Iranian oil currently on ships in the Iran-Iraq War. The US Treasury Department announced that sales and deliveries are permitted until April 19.
Even though the war is supposedly won:
The US military plans to send thousands of additional troops to the Middle East. Three US officials told Reuters that the USS Boxer, along with the Marine Expeditionary Unit on board, is scheduled to leave the US West Coast about three weeks earlier than planned.
2. Europe
The Iranian leadership has warned British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that his recent change of course regarding the US use of British military bases will not go unpunished. The vast majority of Britons want nothing to do with the Israeli-American war, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on the X platform. Starmer is endangering his own countrymen by allowing “British bases to be used for attacks against Iran.” Iran will “exercise its right to self-defense.”
Switzerland is no longer approving arms exports to the US because of the Iran-Iraq War. “The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be approved for the duration of the conflict,” the Federal Council announced.
NATO has withdrawn its security advisory mission from Iraq. This was confirmed by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkevik. The last troops departed on Friday. The withdrawal comes after a series of Iranian attacks on British, French, and Italian bases in northern Iraq. The non-combat mission was established in 2018 to advise Iraqi authorities on developing and building effective institutions.
3. Asia
Of course, it’s also part of Trump’s agenda to antagonize the US’s best ally. He lacks any social skills!
He said, “Who could know better about the surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”
US President Donald Trump’s comment about Pearl Harbor provoked sharp reactions from Japanese experts, politicians, and the New York Times. The remark was made during a White House meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Addition:
Reuters reports: How Trump described his war goals and timeline:
FEBRUARY 28: CALLS FOR IRANIANS TO TOPPLE THEIR GOVERNMENT
The Iranian people should “take over” governance of their country, Trump said in a video on social media as the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks. “It will be yours to take,” he added. “This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Trump described the attacks as “major combat operations.”
FEBRUARY 28: WEAKEN IRAN’S MILITARY, INFLUENCE
Trump said Washington would deny Iran the ability to have a nuclear weapon, although Tehran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Iran does not have nuclear weapons while the United States does. Israel is also widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons.
Trump insisted he would end what he described as Tehran’s ballistic missile threat. “We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” he said. “We’re going to annihilate their navy.”
Trump claimed Iran’s long range missiles “can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland.”
His remarks echoed the case of President George W. Bush for the Iraq war, which had false claims. Neither experts nor U.S. intelligence support Trump’s assertions and both assess that Iran’s ballistic missile program was years from threatening the U.S. homeland.
MARCH 2: SHIFTING TIMELINE
Trump said the war was projected to last four to five weeks but could go on longer.
“We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it’s okay. Whatever it takes,” Trump said at the White House. In a social media post, Trump said there was a “virtually unlimited supply” of U.S. munitions and that “wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies.”
In a notification to Congress, Trump provided no timeline. Trump earlier told the Daily Mail the war could take “four weeks, or less,” then told The New York Times four to five weeks and subsequently said it could take longer.
MARCH 2: RUBIO SAYS U.S. ATTACKED IRAN BECAUSE ISRAEL DID
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Israel’s determination to attack Iran forced Washington to strike.
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said.
MARCH 3: TRUMP CONTRADICTS RUBIO
Trump said he ordered U.S. forces to join Israel’s attack on Iran because he believed Iran was about to strike first.
“I might have forced their (Israel’s) hand,” Trump said. “If we didn’t do it, they (Iran) were going to attack first.”
MARCH 4: CALL TO ‘DESTROY’ SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the goal was to “destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure.”
MARCH 6: ‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER’ CALL
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” Trump wrote on social media.
MARCH 8-11: JUST THE START BUT ALSO ‘PRETTY MUCH COMPLETE’
Hegseth told CBS News in an interview aired March 8 strikes on Iran were “only just the beginning.”
A day later, Trump told the same network “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.”
“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” Trump told reporters later on the same day. When asked if the war was beginning or complete, he said: “Well, I think you could say both.”
On March 11, Trump again said he thought the U.S. had won but: “We’ve got to finish the job.”
MARCH 13: SOFTENS CALL FOR INTERNAL UPRISING
In a March 13 interview, Trump told Fox News the war will end “when I feel it in my bones.”
Trump softened his call for Iranians to topple their government. “So I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons,” Trump said.
MARCH 19: HEGSETH SAYS NO TIME FRAME
Hegseth said Washington was not setting a time frame for the war and Trump would decide when to stop.
“We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame,” the Pentagon chief said. “It will be at the president’s choosing, ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to.'”
MARCH 20: TRUMP CONSIDERS WINDING DOWN BUT NO CEASEFIRE
Trump posted on Truth Social that “we are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts” in the Iran war. Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters “I don’t want to do a ceasefire” when asked about the war.
We must extend our heartfelt thanks to Orban and his bosom buddy:
Iraq halts oil production at foreign fields due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz according to Reuters.
Iraq has officially declared a state of force majeure on all oil fields being developed by foreign companies.
According to a March 17 letter from Iraq’s Oil Ministry seen by Reuters, unprecedented military activity in the region has paralyzed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key point through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass. This has brought most of the country’s oil exports to a virtual standstill.
Because of the inability to move crude out, Iraq’s oil storage capacity has reached its limit.
The document notes that international partners have been unable to nominate tankers to transport oil, despite the readiness of the state-owned company SOMO to load shipments.
Total shutdown of production: the Ministry ordered a halt to production in the affected concession areas. The force majeure clause stipulates a halt in production without compensation to the companies, which are stipulated in the contracts.
Volume collapse: Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani confirmed that Basra Oil Company’s production has dropped from 3.3 million to only 900,000 bpd (the balance is used only for internal refinery needs).
The halt in exports poses a critical threat to Iraq’s finances, as oil sales provide more than 90% of government revenues.
The situation is unfolding against the backdrop of a three-week war between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other. The conflict has already gone beyond Iranian territory, with Tehran launching strikes against Israel and the Gulf Arab states where US military facilities are located. In turn, Israel is attacking Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon.
With these developments as a backdrop, global oil prices have reached the highest level in the past four years.
Iraq has called on foreign oil companies for urgent talks to coordinate staff work and expenses under force majeure, adding that the restriction regime will be reviewed depending on developments in the region.
Reminder that after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, Iran began attacking commercial ships and threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Last year, about 13 million barrels, or about 31% of sea supplies, passed through it daily. The strait is a major transportation artery for Arab monarchies, Iraq and Iran.
In a matter of weeks, more than 20 merchant ships have been attacked or damaged, and some crews have died or disappeared. Thus, most shipping companies have stopped voyages through the strait, and tanker traffic has almost come to a halt.
And here’s Trump’s next war, in which he’ll probably have a better hand than in Iran.
The island nation of Cuba is running out of oil.
Russia apparently intends to support Cuba with oil and gas deliveries. According to media reports, at least two tankers are en route to Cuba and are expected to reach the island nation within the next few weeks. According to the Financial Times, this will be the island’s first energy deliveries in three months.
One of the cargo ships, the Sea Horse, sailing under the Hong Kong flag, is said to be carrying around 27,000 tons of gas and was expected to reach Cuba in March (my update: This ship has since changed course and is now heading towards Trinidad). The second Russian tanker is carrying between 725,000 and 728,000 barrels of oil (one barrel equals 159 liters) and is not expected before April.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is risking new US tariffs with these deliveries (but Orban will surely put in a good word for him with Trump). He could rely on the fact that the quantities of oil and gas are very small and wouldn’t be enough to help Cuba anyway (my update: The US has already threatened Russia that it will not accept and will block any deliveries). The think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) sees Russia’s involvement in the region as more of a symbolic gesture – Moscow wants to demonstrate that it wields some influence in the Western Hemisphere.
Cuba needs around 100,000 barrels of oil a day to function, but only produces two-fifths of that amount itself. Every day without oil deliveries brings the country closer to running out of supplies. Russian deliveries alone aren’t enough: Every drop of crude oil that reaches Cuba must first be processed, which can take another 20 to 30 days.
“That’s why we always say: Don’t send crude oil to Cuba,” Bloomberg quoted researcher Jorge Piñon of the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute as saying. “You have to send the finished product.”
In a recent interview with Die Zeit, historian Timothy Snyder concludes that Trump is stuck in a dilemma, yet simultaneously afraid of a larger war, which he actually needs.
The Iran war is motivated by domestic politics, says historian Timothy Snyder in a recent interview. He believes Donald Trump is caught in a dilemma. A small war “doesn’t give him what he wants—and he’s—rightly—afraid of a big one.”
The US military will launch a massive attack on the important South Pars gas field if Iran continues to attack Qatar’s gas industry, he wrote on his platform Truth Social. An end to the mutual bombing in the Middle East is not in sight.
US historian Timothy Snyder believes Trump is caught in a dilemma. He explained this in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit. Snyder considers the Iran war to be motivated by domestic politics. He suspects that Trump wants to use it to distract from problems in the US—such as rising living costs and poor poll numbers.
“We shouldn’t assume that Trump is acting from a position of strength. Trump is weak,” Snyder told Die Zeit. The historian works as a professor of history at the prestigious Yale University and has taught at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto since 2025.
“The kind of war Trump would need to advance the transformation of the US into an autocracy is one he cannot wage. Such a war would have to be fought with ground troops and would claim many more lives,” Snyder told the newspaper.
The figures show that the US president’s policies appear to be becoming increasingly unpopular among Americans. The weekly newspaper “The Economist” extrapolated Trump’s approval ratings in individual US states using data from the YouGov polling institute.
The result: While the 79-year-old had greater support in states with a traditionally Republican electorate than in those with a Democratic majority, and while Trump’s voters are largely satisfied with his performance as US president,
his approval ratings have declined in key areas such as foreign policy, immigration, and the economy since his inauguration. This is shown by survey data compiled by The Economist. According to the survey, a majority of Americans also disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Iran war.
The results of the March Omnibus Survey paint a similar picture. From March 12 to 16, 2026, 1,033 registered voters nationwide were interviewed. Trump’s ratings were sobering in several areas.
On immigration, his net approval rating—the difference between positive and negative opinions—was minus 12, and on foreign policy, it was even minus 21. Trump also scored minus 21 on the economy.
Overall, only 41 percent of respondents approved of the US president’s performance, while 57 percent disapproved. Newsweek, among others, reported extensively on the results.
Historian Snyder, in any case, sees Trump facing major domestic challenges. In an interview with Die Zeit, he reaches a remarkable conclusion. “Trump wants to stay in power forever; to die in the White House, with the Nobel Peace Prize around his neck, lying on clean sheets.”
If the Democrats were to win the midterm elections in November, the US president would face major problems. Snyder: “Therefore, in my opinion, he won’t hesitate to create terrible chaos in the US, if necessary.”