The US will now take over the Strait of Hormuz and become its “guardian angel,” President Trump said.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said, “We’re taking over the Strait.” The ceasefire between the US and Iran broke down this week after Iran attacked shipping in the Strait on multiple occasions. Over the weekend, the US and Iran exchanged tit-for-tat attacks.
“We’re going to keep the Strait, and we’ll probably run it,” Trump said.
“We’ll become the guardian of the Strait. Maybe we’ll call it the guardian angel of the Strait, and we should be reimbursed for that.”
President Trump said the US “guarded the Strait for 50 years—more—and we never got paid for it. They made all the money.”
Instead, the US will now be rewarded with “a lot of money.”
President Trump also slammed the Iranians for breaking the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed last month, beginning a 60-day period to bring the war to a complete end.
“It was a done deal, and then they broke it. They always break it. We’ve had 10 deals with these people — and so we’re just going to hit them very hard… They’re a bad group of people. They’ve been this way for a long time, and right now they’re getting their ass kicked.”
This morning, oil prices opened 3% higher.
Brent crude futures were up $2.67 (3.51%) to $78.68, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $2.48 (3.47%) to $73.89 a barrel.
Traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz, which under normal conditions handles 20% of global oil and natural gas shipments, fell to a five-week low as the ceasefire between the US and Iran broke down last week.
Iran repeatedly attacked shipping in the Strait, leading President Trump to declare the ceasefire was over.
The future of the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran now looks uncertain. The Memorandum, signed last month, aimed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bring the war to a permanent end after 60 days of negotiations.
In response to this weekend’s strikes, Iran has attacked American bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, according to the Revolutionary Guards Corp, as well as a radar systems in Oman and fuel and ammunition stores in Jordan.
Jordan confirmed that it had destroyed missiles from Iran and Kuwait’s military said it was intercepting “hostile aerial targets.”
Bahrain’s military, meanwhile, accused Iran of attacking civilians.
“Iran continues its systematic hostile approach through its heinous attacks with missiles and drones that target civilians in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the general command of Bahrain’s military said, continuing that air defences “intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial attacks” this morning.
The attacks are retaliation for overnight US strikes on targets across Iran, including air-defence systems, radar, missile and drone facilities, and small boats used on the Strait of Hormuz.
4 Responses
How about, no?
Why does Iran engage in grudge attacks on Saudi Arabia when the same missiles could have been aimed at Israel? Wasn’t Israel the main thorn in their side all these years? Why poke the bear and piss off the American military? Israel’s aggression in Gaza and Lebanon and soon Syria and maybe Turkey, why wouldn’t they cut the head off the beast that haunted them instead?
Dimona, Israels nuclear research facility was a lot closer. We bomb their nuclear facility on the strait, the Sirik nuclear complex. located in the southern coastal province of Hormozgan near the cities of Sirik and Minab, it is a massive multi-reactor project being built with Russian cooperation and they retaliate by bombing military bases instead. Why not one and done?
I thought Iran hit Dimona a couple of months ago.
Curiouser and curiouser.