GARDEN CITY, United States: President Donald Trump on Friday said he would “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory after defeating Iran.
“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state.
“It’s true,” he added.
Trump, together with Israel, launched a war against Iran on February 28 with the stated aims of ending the country’s controversial nuclear program and sparking a popular uprising.
However, Iran struck back by establishing de facto control over much of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passageway for large amounts of global energy and other commodity shipping.
The United States remains locked in a stalemate with Iran over the strait, with Iran denying access to much of the civilian shipping and the US Navy mounting a blockade of Iranian ports in an attempt to cripple its economy.
“We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” Trump told the cheering crowd of supporters and police.
Trump also urged Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices as the cost of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The comments underscore the growing political risk for Trump as higher fuel prices collide with his campaign promise to lower energy costs, with Democrats already seeking to make the economic fallout from the Iran war an issue heading into the November midterm elections.
Americans who had to "pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline" should remember that this was the cost of ensuring "a very evil country" could not have a nuclear weapon, Trump said.
"What we're doing is a great service for the world, not only for ourselves ... and we're really doing a great job," said Trump, adding he would never apologize for attacking Iran.
*AFP and Reuters
