"Donald Trump suggested 'we don't need oil' - as he called on other nations to step up to keep the Strait of Hormuz open - speaking at a lunch with Trump Kennedy Centre board members on Monday. "You mentioned the significant amount of oil that China derives from the Middle East. What is the status of your conversation with President Xi in terms of getting China to cooperate, in terms of making the Strait of Hormuz safe for those oil tankers," he was asked. "Yeah, so China is a great example. They get 91 percent of their oil from the Hormuz Straits, which we protected for years. And it always bothered me that we have these countries. Japan gets 95 percent of its from the Straits, the harmless Straits. And it always bothered me that we're protecting, and we don't need them. We didn't need them before we started Dig We Must. Dig We Must, that's the Trump policy of lots of oil. And we didn't use them very much. It used to be at 10 percent. Now it's at almost zero. We don't need, you know, we don't need oil," he said. Earlier Trump said he was assembling a coalition of 'about seven' allies help keep the Strait of Hormuz open - although these were not confirmed. He added that it would be a 'very bad future' for NATO if help was not forthcoming. Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi has said the Strait - which handles around 20 per cent of global oil traffic - "is open to friends and non-hostile countries, but closed to enemies and those who collaborate with them." The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran responded with strikes on Israel and US assets in the region. The conflict soon widened to Israel and Hezbollah trading strikes across the border with Lebanon too. "