President Donald Trump claimed the US Navy had ‘mine-swept’ the ‘entire’ Strait of Hormuz as he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, adding that the key strategic waterway is ‘open’ and ‘taking a lot of ships’.
“It’s open now. We’re taking a lot of ships. It’s open now. Look, the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy. We have a blockade that’s been infallible. It’s a steel wall. And we let people in that we want to let in,” Trump said.
“A little bit complex because they will, on occasion, drop a mine, and we find the mines. You know, we’ve mine-swept the entire Strait, as you probably maybe heard, maybe you didn’t hear. But we control the Strait 100 percent,” he continued.
However, commercial traffic through the vital chokepoint remains well below pre-war levels. Just 33 vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz between Monday and Thursday last week, compared with a typical 130 to 140 transits per week before the war.
Iran and neighbouring Oman are negotiating a proposed new shipping route, but major sticking points remain. Iranian officials have rejected claims that the talks amount to a full reopening of Hormuz.
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, then secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Washington must lift its naval blockade, withdraw US forces from the region, remove sanctions, release frozen Iranian assets and compensate Iran for war damage before the strait fully reopens.
Zolghadr was replaced on Monday by former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohsen Rezaei, with no public sign that Tehran’s demands had changed.
Writing on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said Tehran’s proposal had given him ‘an interesting idea’, demanding compensation for Americans killed or seriously wounded in attacks he linked to Iran, as well as for families of Iranian protesters he claimed were killed by the country’s authorities.
Source: Viory
