Trump sends mixed messages on securing the Strait of Hormuz

Washington – President Trump has sent contradictory messages about the Strait of Hormuz over the past few weeks as the world’s oil supplies have been blocked by the Iran war.

In a prime-time address on Wednesday, Mr. Trump declared that Iran is “essentially destroyed” and that “when the conflict ends, the strait will naturally open.”

“The hard work has been done,” Mr Trump said. But he also urged other nations to “take care” of the strait. “They should cherish it. They should hold it and cherish it. They can do it easily.”

The comments come after weeks of changes in plans from the president. How to protect waterways About one-fifth of the world’s oil flows between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.

CBS News national security analyst Aaron McLean stated on Thursday that Iran has utilised its most significant strategy by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a situation that will eventually need to be addressed. International oil price benchmark, Brent crude, jumped more than 7%. After Mr Trump’s speech.

On March 9, in an interview with CBS News, the President claimed that ships were entering the strait and that he was “thinking about taking possession of it.” However, data indicates that the majority of ships passing through the strait in the past month have been heading to Iran, as the conditions remain perilous.

The same day, Mr. Trump told reporters that the US Navy and its partners would escort oil tankers through the strait “if needed.” He said the US would offer “political risk insurance for any tanker operating in the Gulf”.

Mr. Trump said in mid-March that the US would work with other countries to “police” the strait,

although he did not disclose which countries had made such an agreement, and that the US was “harming” Iran’s ability to threaten commercial vessels.

The president said on March 16, “To the best of our knowledge, we have attacked all of their minelaying ships.” “Now they can put them on other types of ships, I guess, and drop them in. But we don’t know if any of them have been dropped.”

He encouraged other countries to “come and help us deal with this crisis”, adding that “we have it in an excellent situation”. Asked why the US could not immediately reopen the strait, Mr Trump said, “It takes two to tango.”

On March 20, Mr. Trump insisted that reopening the strait was a “very simple” military manoeuvre while also claiming that “at a certain point it will open on its own.” A week later, the president asserted that Iran was “desperate to negotiate” and that “if they reach a favourable agreement, the strait will be reopened.” He also said that America had blown up all of its mine-droppers.

“They have to be taken out on a boat or something,” he said of the mines.

At the same time, Mr Trump has acknowledged that ships passing through the strait still face dangers.

‘Look, the problem with fissures is that a person can take a mine, drop it in the water, and then say, “Oh, it’s unsafe.”‘ You’re not invading an army or a country; they can take it down. Or you can take a machine gun off the shore and fire a few bullets at a ship, or maybe an over-the-shoulder missile, small missiles,” Mr. Trump said on March 31. “It’s not going to be for us… It’s going to be for whoever is using the strait.”

Before his prime-time address, Mr. Trump reiterated his call for other countries, such as China, South Korea, Japan, France, and other European countries, to protect the Strait.

“Let them all do it,” he said. “What the hell are we doing this work for? I just want to make sure they never have nuclear weapons. Secondly, regime change was not part of my plan, but I think I have achieved it through force of personality.

Mr Trump again suggested on Wednesday night that it was not the responsibility of the United States to protect the strait.

“We’ll help, but they must lead in protecting their oil,” he said.

McLean said the president’s Wednesday night comments on the strait imply that his “principle objective is a deal – a deal to the point at which the Iranians will open it up or perhaps have some kind of regime change where they will no longer bother with it”.

“I think he is aware of the difficulty of a military operation to open the strait,” he said, adding that it risks prolonging the war – which the president said on Wednesday would last two to three weeks. At the beginning of the war, the president said that the American military operation would take four to five weeks, and the offensive is currently in its fifth week.