Sejumlah anggota parlemen Amerika Serikat dari Partai Demokrat mengkritik keputusan Presiden Donald Trump yang menolak tawaran bantuan Presiden China Xi Jinping untuk mengatasi konflik dengan Iran di Selat Hormuz pada Rabu, 20 Mei 2026.
Kritik tersebut muncul setelah Donald Trump pada Jumat, 15 Mei 2026, mengaku menolak tawaran Xi Jinping saat melakukan perjalanan kembali dari KTT di Beijing.
Perwakilan Demokrat dari California sekaligus anggota Komite Angkatan Bersenjata, Ro Khanna, menyebut penolakan tersebut sebagai peluang yang hilang untuk menyelesaikan ketegangan di jalur perdagangan energi tersebut.
"President [Barack] Obama engaged with China to get the Iran nuclear deal, and we should engage with China and our European allies to end the war in Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz. We need statesmanship, and the president missed an opportunity," ujar Ro Khanna.
Khanna menilai kerja sama dengan China sangat penting karena kedua negara memiliki kepentingan yang sama untuk memastikan kelancaran jalur maritim tersebut.
"I think it’s in both of our nations’ interests to get the Strait of Hormuz opened. So he should have just had a conversation about what Xi thought it would take to get that achieved," kata Ro Khanna.
Donald Trump sendiri menegaskan bahwa dirinya tidak membutuhkan bantuan dari pihak asing dalam menghadapi situasi di Timur Tengah tersebut.
"I’m not asking for any favors. Because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return, and we don’t need favors," kata Donald Trump di atas pesawat Air Force One.
Seminggu setelah pernyataan itu, Donald Trump mengklaim bahwa blokade militer yang dilakukan oleh Angkatan Laut Amerika Serikat di kawasan tersebut telah berjalan sepenuhnya dengan sukses.
"We have total control of the Strait of Hormuz, as you know, with our blockade," kata Donald Trump pada Kamis, 21 Mei 2026, di Oval Office.
Trump juga membantah laporan mengenai adanya pungutan biaya oleh otoritas Iran terhadap kapal-kapal yang melintas di selat tersebut.
"The blockade has been 100 percent effective. Nobody’s been able to get through. It’s like a steel wall, it’s our Navy," ujar Donald Trump.
Donald Trump menambahkan bahwa tekanan ekonomi melalui blokade ini akan terus berlanjut hingga pemerintah Teheran bersedia membuka kembali jalur pelayaran tersebut.
"They’re losing a lot of money," kata Donald Trump kepada wartawan.
Trump memastikan bahwa seluruh pergerakan kapal yang keluar masuk wilayah Iran berada di bawah pengawasan ketat pasukannya.
"There hasn’t been a ship that’s been able to get through without our approval, and the Navy has done an amazing job. And no ship is going to Iran, as you know, no ship is going to or out of Iran without our approval," tutur Donald Trump.
Meskipun demikian, Anggota Komite Angkatan Bersenjata dan Hubungan Luar Negeri Senat, Tim Kaine, menilai sikap keras kepala administrasi Trump bertolak belakang dengan keluhan mereka selama ini.
"I get what the president’s concern is, you know, that the price that China might extract for helping might not be a price he would want to pay," kata Tim Kaine.
Kaine menyayangkan sikap gegabah Trump yang langsung menolak tawaran diplomasi dari China tanpa mendengar proposal tersebut terlebih dahulu.
"But why not at least find out what the proposal is before you reject it out of hand? … It was not as big a topic at the summit as I thought might have been the case," ujar Tim Kaine.
Kaine menganalisis kemungkinan Trump sengaja membiarkan penutupan selat memberikan beban ekonomi langsung kepada China.
"The president might be of the belief that the closure of the strait imposes enough economic challenge on China that they’ll take action for their own reasons, rather than because [Trump] asked him to, and in that case he doesn’t have to give them a favor," ucap Tim Kaine.
Sementara itu, Anggota Komite Intelijen Senat, Ron Wyden, mengaku tidak heran dengan respons negatif Trump terhadap kerja sama internasional.
"I went to school on a basketball scholarship, dreaming of playing in the NBA, and I learned that sports was a team program and a team effort," kata Ron Wyden.
Wyden menegaskan bahwa dalam isu perdagangan internasional dan diplomasi global, Amerika Serikat tetap membutuhkan mitra strategis.
"It still is a team effort in areas like international trade. You’ve got to have partners," kata Ron Wyden.
Berdasarkan survei dari Quinnipiac University pada 15 April, mayoritas publik atau sebanyak 56 persen menolak perang dengan Iran, sementara 55 persen menyalahkan Trump atas lonjakan harga bahan bakar.
"What was promised to be temporary pain to fill up seems to hurt more as time passes," kata Tim Malloy, analis survei Quinnipiac University.
Di sisi lain, Anggota Komite Hubungan Luar Negeri Senat dari Partai Republik, Bill Hagerty, memberikan pembelaan terhadap kebijakan militer yang diambil oleh panglima tertinggi tersebut.
"He finally has had the wherewithal to step up and deal with this problem. Had he not dealt with it, the pace at which [Iranian officials] were producing ballistic missiles and drones would have exceeded our ability to take them out," kata Bill Hagerty.
Hagerty menilai tindakan tegas dari Amerika Serikat sangat krusial untuk membendung ancaman militer Iran yang terus berkembang.
"It’s absolutely critical that we stepped up. I’m pleased to see that he did it," ujar Bill Hagerty.
