President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would be paid for guarding the Strait of Hormuz after declaring that it would be “taking over” the strategic waterway.
“We’ll become the guardian of the Strait,” Trump told “Fox and Friends,” adding that the US had been guarding it for “nothing” but now would be reimbursed by wealthy nations.
“We’re going to get paid for guarding it. A lot of money, but we just want to be reimbursed for doing all of this, for putting our people in danger.”
The US president’s comments came after US and Iranian attacks of a scale unseen since an April ceasefire in the conflict in the Middle East, adding to doubts about efforts to bring a permanent end to the war that has halted shipping through the strait.
The past week’s hostilities have centered on the critical energy trade route, the control of which is a key point of dispute between Washington and Tehran.
In his Monday interview, Trump complained about the tactics of Iranian negotiators seeking changes in what was agreed during hours of talks at the weekend.
“We’re taking over the Strait. They have nothing. They’ve got nothing,” Trump said. “Yesterday, they had an 11-hour meeting … And everything was agreed to yesterday. And they leave the room, and they call back, and they say we had to make a couple of changes,” he added, without elaborating on what changes were sought.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Monday the government was talking with mediators from Qatar, Pakistan and Oman in a bid to prevent an escalation in the war.
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that the Strait of Hormuz is “closed” but the US maintains it is open to maritime traffic and not controlled by Iran.
