By Enyichukwu Enemanna
US President, Donald Trump on Monday said his country would be paid a “lot” of money for guarding the Strait of Hormuz after declaring that Washington will be “taking over” the strategic waterway.
“We’ll become the guardian of the Strait,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” in an interview on Monday, adding that the US had been guarding it for “nothing” but now would be reimbursed by wealthy nations.
“We’re going to get paid for guarding it. A lot of money, but we just want to be reimbursed for doing all of this, for putting our people in danger.”
The US leader’s comments came after Washington and Tehran attacks on a scale never seen since an April ceasefire in the conflict in the Middle East, raising doubts about efforts to bring a permanent end to the war that has halted the movement is ship through the strait.
The past week’s hostilities have centered on the critical energy trade route, the control of which is a key point of dispute between US and Iran.
Trump in the interview complained about the tactics of Iranian negotiators seeking changes in what was agreed during hours of talks at the weekend.
“We’re taking over the Strait. They have nothing. They’ve got nothing,” Trump said. “Yesterday, they had an 11-hour meeting … And everything was agreed to yesterday. And they leave the room, and they call back, and they say we had to make a couple of changes,” he added, without elaborating on what changes were sought.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Monday the government was talking with mediators from Qatar, Pakistan, and Oman in a bid to prevent an escalation in the war.
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that the Strait of Hormuz is “closed,” but the US maintains it is open to maritime traffic and not controlled by Iran.
