Japan joined five European countries on Thursday saying they are ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through" the Strait of Hormuz, but only after the fighting ends.

US President Donald Trump on Friday branded NATO allies "cowards" for not heeding his demand for military assistance against Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

At an otherwise congenial meeting with Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office on Thursday, Mr. Trump invoked the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, which led the United States into W...