WASHINGTON 

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized President Donald Trump on Monday after he suggested China should help ensure security in the Strait of Hormuz amid US-Israeli operation against Iran.

"Donald Trump says he’s hoping China will help us clear the Strait of Hormuz. Are you kidding me?" Schumer said on the US social media company X.

Schumer accused Trump of creating "a mess" in the Middle East.

"And he clearly has no plan for how to end it," he added.

Trump, however, defended the idea of broader international involvement in protecting the vital shipping route, which carries a significant portion of the world’s oil supplies.

“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump told The Financial Times. “I think China should help too.”

Trump said Monday that he requested to delay his scheduled March 31-April 2 trip to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping by “a month or so,” saying he wants to remain in Washington as the US continues the operation against Iran that began last month.

Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.

Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz since early March, pushing oil prices higher. The key shipping lane handles about 20 million barrels of oil a day, roughly 20% of the global supply.