US President Donald Trump declares US will ‘take over the Strait’ as brutal missile exchanges shatter memorandum of understanding peace period and threaten another major Middle East war
Donald Trump says the US is `reinstating’ a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and will charge ships for safe passage.
It comes as Iranian missile teams have targeted US military sites in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan in revenge strikes for a third round of US attacks as the conflict reached crisis point. American forces escalated with more than 140 precision strikes, smashing an interim ceasefire agreement made last month between the two sides and hitting dozens of targets. On Monday US President Donald Trump declared: “We’re taking over the strait,” as he referred to the disputed Strait of Hormuz waterway between Iran and Oman.
He also vowed the US will get paid for controlling the waterway, but did not expand on who that money would come from. He said: “We’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it. We’ll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we’ll call it the guardian angel of the strait, and we should be reimbursed for that.” But the all-powerful shadowy Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit back: “The Strait of Hormuz is our territory,” adding it would not allow any country to “continue its illegal interference in it.”
Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said Tehran would stop complying with the US peace deal if Washington did not honour its side of the agreement. He said: “Each time that the other party has failed to meet its obligations, we did not uphold ours… We will continue to act in this manner.” He then added that the so-called memorandum of understanding between the two sides had entered a “crisis stage”.
The US strikes were launched soon after Iran hit vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the American attacks mark a significant increase in intensity. Foreign ministers from the UK, Germany and France condemned Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping. In a statement the trio – dubbed the ‘E3’ – said: “We condemn Iran’s heinous attacks on merchant shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on countries in the region, including Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan.”
The group called for the restoration of the ceasefire and the resumption of negotiations between the warring parties. It is understood Iranian targets on the island of Qeshm were hit by the US as well as the port town of Bandar Abbas, which is believed to have military installations. It is also believed Iran used a number of different missile systems in their retaliatory strikes, among them liquid propelled ballistic missiles which are difficult to shoot down.
The memorandum of understanding last month was meant to be a springboard to future negotiations between the two sides to stop the war which started on February 28. But the most difficult point has proved to be the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime artery through which nearly 20 percent of the world ’s oil and natural gas flowed before the war. The number of ships passing into the Strait has fallen to its lowest level in five weeks – as Trump claims it is open whilst Tehran insists it is closed. There are claims the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is deploying more mines , this time on the Omani side of the Strait as the two further entrench into long-term conflict.
