Photo: Alamy
Amid reignited violence in the Middle East, President Trump has announced the reinstatement of a Naval blockade on Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz while additionally threatening to charge a fee on cargo moving through the shipping corridor to compensate for the heavy price of U.S. military protection.
“The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran,” he wrote in a statement on Monday. “We are reinstating the [sic] THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving.”
The president said that the U.S. would be “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” and additionally declared that “as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.”
This announcement also comes amid reports that President Trump may have notified Congress of war with Iran, which would mark the official start of a new 60-day conflict, as required by the War Powers Resolution of 1973. According to POLITICO, the president wrote the letter on July 10 and allegedly wrote that the strikes against Iran on July 7 were “military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States’ interests both at home and abroad.”
According to the U.S. Central Command, U.S. forces have completed several heavy attacks against Iran over the past week, hitting countless targets.
On Monday, President Trump told the Salem News Channel that the U.S. would attack Iran again.
“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight, and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow – and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it,” he said. “They have nothing. They have nothing going on other than they have big mouths…I got to know them, and they’re stone cold crazy people.”
As of Monday afternoon, CENTCOM announced a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran at the command of the president.
“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
