US President Donald Trump has stated that the US could become the ‘guardian angel’ of the Strait of Hormuz. He made the remarks in a telephone interview with Fox News on 13 July, following a new wave of air strikes triggered by activity in the key waterway.
According to Trump, the United States will take control of the strait, which in peacetime accounts for around one-fifth of global energy transit and has become one of the main battlegrounds in the conflict. He also stated that the US should be reimbursed for its costs in carrying out this task:
“We are going to keep the strait, and we will probably run it. We will become the strait’s guardian. Perhaps we’ll call it the ‘guardian angel of the strait’. And we should be reimbursed for this,” he said, without giving any details.
Trump subsequently stated on social media that the Strait of Hormuz was “open and will remain open, with or without Iran”:
“From now on, the US will be known as the ‘guardians of the Strait of Hormuz’, but as such, and in the interests of fairness, will receive compensation amounting to 20 per cent of all cargo transported to cover any costs necessary to ensure security in this highly unstable part of the world.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated, immediately prior to Trump’s social media post, that the only way to restore regular shipping through the Strait was to end US military intervention in this waterway.
Following the post, the Iranian command stated that the US had no role to play in determining the future of the Strait, warning that countries cooperating with Washington “bear full responsibility for any instability and escalation of war in the region”.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated on 13 July that the only way to resume regular shipping through the Strait is to end US military intervention in the waterway.
Trump’s comments came after the United States carried out strikes on targets in southern Iran in response to Tehran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran subsequently launched strikes against its neighbours in the Persian Gulf.