South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has ruled out any military deployment that would involve direct participation in the ongoing US conflict with Iran, even as US President Donald Trump publicly pressures Seoul to join operations near the Strait of Hormuz — a critical chokepoint through which much of South Korea's crude oil passes. Lee's room to manoeuvre is constrained by a combination of factors: no UN Security Council or US Congressional authorisation for the war exists, all US allies except Israel have declined to join combat operations, and Iran's foreign ministry issued an unusually direct warning in Korean on social media that any foreign military presence in the Gulf would be treated as support for aggression and face "serious consequences." Domestically, Lee is further hampered by a record-low approval rating of 38 percent and surveys showing 55 percent of South Koreans oppose a deployment, making a decision to send troops politically costly for a government only a year into its five-year term.