President Donald Trump has announced that America is moving towards taking operational control of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
During a phone interview, Trump detailed his proposal to maintain a US presence there and charge a fee for securing global oil shipping routes. Trump asserted, “We’re taking control of this strait. We’ll own it and maybe even run it. We’ll be its guardian. Maybe we’ll call it a ‘Guardian Angel’.”
The President also emphasized that Washington should get financial compensation from other rich countries in return for protecting this international channel. “We should get fees for this,” he said, adding, “We should get money to protect this strait.”
In addition to the maritime resolution, Trump strongly criticized Tehran’s leadership, calling them “a bad group of people.” He accused Iran of breaking an earlier understanding with Washington. “We had an agreement and they broke it,” Trump said, though he did not specify which agreement he was referring to. He further claimed that Iran has nothing to stop the US from moving forward with its plans.
Tehran immediately responded to the White House’s statements and firmly declared that it would never back down on its sovereignty over the shipping lanes. Dr Mohammad Mokhber, an advisor and aide to the Supreme Leader and a member of the ‘Expedience Discernment Council’, strongly rejected the US claim in a statement posted on ‘X’ (Twitter). Comparing the modern defense of the strait to the historical Islamic ‘Battle of Uhud’, Mokhber stressed that the waterway is of vital economic, strategic and security importance to the Iranian people.