Trump claims US has total control over strait of Hormuz after Iran seizes two container ships | Donald Trump
Donald Trump once again said that the United States “has complete control over the Strait of Hormuz,” adding that Iran’s leadership is so hobbled by internal conflicts that it is unclear who is in charge.
But the US president’s claim appeared doubtful in the face of Iranian commandos seizing two container ships and a US report warning it could take six months to clear the strait of mines.
Trump’s comments on Thursday came after US special forces boarded a stateless oil tanker in the Indian Ocean that the Pentagon claimed was carrying Iranian crude.
The military operation took place hours after Iran seized two container ships; The two sides continued to impose rival blockades of the strait, keeping global oil prices at around $100 (£74) a barrel.
While US forces have proven capable of stopping ships leaving Iranian ports, they have not yet demonstrated the capacity to open the strait to ships coming from ports of allied Gulf states.
The effect of the double blockade was further increased by the presence of sea mines in the strait. The Pentagon warned in a briefing to Congress that it could take up to six months to clear all suspected mines from sea lanes. A report in the Washington Post.
The report stated that approximately 20 mines were placed in the strait, some of them were placed by small boats, and others were thought to be difficult to locate by maneuvering from a distance. The Pentagon’s warning suggested that the war’s impact on the global economy could continue long after any peace agreement is signed.
A Pentagon spokesman called the report “inaccurate” but did not offer specific objections. Trump said in his Truth Social post that US minesweepers were working “up to three times as much” and that he had ordered the US navy to “shoot and kill” any boat mining the waterway. “There should be no hesitation,” Trump said.
Fatih Birol, President of the International Energy Agency, said in an interview with CNBC that the world is facing the “greatest energy security threat in history”.
On Thursday night, Trump told reporters that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend the ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group for up to three weeks following talks at the White House.
Hezbollah did not participate in the talks and clashes continued throughout the last ceasefire. In an Israeli attack on Wednesday, well-known Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who was covering Southern Lebanon, was killed.
Separately, when Trump was asked how long he was willing to wait for a peace deal with Iran, he replied: “Don’t rush me.”
“Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft guns are gone… maybe they’ve loaded up a little bit after the two-week break, but if they do that we’ll take it out in about a day,” he added.
“I want to make the best deal. I could make a deal right now… but I don’t want to do that. I want this to last forever,” Trump said.
Iran refused to participate in peace talks with the United States in Pakistan; It was a snub that Trump attributed to a lack of consensus on negotiating strategy in Tehran. The Iranian regime said that it would not participate in the talks during the period when the United States violated the ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, especially during the naval blockade.
Trump agreed to an “indefinite” extension of the ceasefire on Tuesday and claimed on Thursday that despite the suspension of talks, the United States maintains firm control over events in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel between the Gulf and the Indian Ocean through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied fossil gas is carried.
“We have full control over the Strait of Hormuz. No ship can enter or exit without the approval of the US Navy. ‘Tightly sealed’ until Iran makes a DEAL!!!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
The president said he agreed to an extension of the ceasefire to give Iranian factions time to agree on a negotiating stance and claimed turmoil among their leaders.
“Iran is having a hard time understanding who its leaders are!” Trump added that the disagreement is between “hardliners” and “moderates.”
Iran’s current supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, does not appear to be as powerful as his father, Ali, who was killed by Israeli missiles in the first seconds of the joint US-Israeli attack on February 28 that triggered the current conflict.
Mojtaba Khamenei was also seriously injured in the attack, but the New York Times quoted senior Iranian officials on Thursday as claiming he remained “mentally sharp and engaged.”
According to the newspaper, “He has had three surgeries on one leg and is awaiting a prosthesis. He has had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining his function. Officials stated that his face and lips were severely burned, making it difficult for him to speak, adding that he would eventually need plastic surgery.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), meanwhile, appears to have more influence over a more collective leadership, making it more hawkish overall, but it is far from clear that the regime is falling apart over policy disagreements.
The Revolutionary Guard naval command said the two detained ships – the Greek-owned Epaminondas and the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca – were endangering maritime security by “operating without the necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems” and claimed that they had turned off their location transponders.
Reports from the region suggested that the container ships were part of a larger convoy of ships seeking to exit the Strait of Hormuz after being stranded in the Gulf for the duration of the war.
Iran released footage on Thursday showing Iranian commandos retreating from Francesca and climbing aboard using rope ladders. On the same day, in an example of a growing propaganda war, the United States released footage of what it said was US special forces descending from helicopters on ropes onto the deck of the stateless M/T Majestic X.
Closing the strait puts intense pressure on Iran’s economy, but by restricting global supplies of oil, gas and petrochemicals, including fertilizer, it poses a political threat to Trump in the form of rising oil prices and general inflation ahead of the US midterm elections in November.
