(AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged other nations to send ships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, the critical chokepoint for global oil supplies disrupted by the Mideast war. Trump, who has said the United States will soon start escorting tankers through the strait, posted on Truth Social that “Many countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe.”
The US president added: “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area.” Iranian strikes have all but halted maritime traffic in the strait, through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass. It is just 54 kilometers (34 miles) wide at its narrowest point. With oil prices spiking, Trump was asked Friday when the US Navy would begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. “It’ll happen soon, very soon,” he said.
– US bombing the shoreline –
In his post on Saturday, Trump asserted that Iran’s military capability had been eliminated but he conceded that it was still able to attack the strait. “We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are,” he wrote.
As he urged nations to send ships to the strait, he added that “the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
On Friday, the US military heavily bombed targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports, and Trump threatened to hit the island’s oil infrastructure, which was spared in the strikes, “should Iran, or anyone else” interfere with passage of ships through the strait.
US allies have been reluctant to provide military support to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, but they have mobilized warships in response to the widening conflict. On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron visited a French aircraft carrier dispatched to the Mediterranean and said France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And on Tuesday, a UK warship left port in southern England en route to the eastern Mediterranean to “bolster British defences in the region” after a drone attack on Britain’s Akrotiri base in southern Cyprus.
© 2024 AFP
