Speaking to reporters at the White House on Saturday, President Trump declared that the United States has “100 percent” control over the Strait of Hormuz, but predicted Iran would keep stirring up trouble in the region.
“The shipping lanes are open,” Trump said. “Right now, the only ones in charge of the Strait of Hormuz are the U.S. Navy.” He added that American forces are enforcing a naval blockade against Iran, allowing passage only to vessels Washington chooses to let through.
Trump acknowledged the situation in the strait is “a little complicated,” noting that Iran “occasionally drops mines, and we find them.” He also claimed the U.S. military has already swept the entire strait for explosives.
On Friday, the U.S. Central Command said more than 20 American warships are deployed across the Middle East to strictly enforce the blockade against Iran. As of that day, U.S. forces had diverted 55 commercial ships, disabled two vessels, and boarded and inspected two others.
CNN, citing data from the ship-tracking firm Kepler, reported on Saturday that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has remained “sluggish” over the past week and “weakened further over the weekend.” The number of transiting vessels fell from 15 on Wednesday to 11 on Thursday, and dropped to just six on Friday.
According to Iran’s Press TV, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said on Thursday that if Washington doesn’t change its behavior, the strait will stay closed. He laid out five conditions for reopening it: a permanent halt to U.S. military operations against Iran and its regional allies, an end to threats or insults against Tehran, the lifting of the naval blockade and all sanctions, the return of frozen Iranian assets, and compensation for damages caused by American military actions.
A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps echoed that stance on Friday, saying Tehran’s current strategy is to maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz until the enemy accepts all of Iran’s conditions and concedes defeat.
