Trump: 'We will become the guardians of the Strait of Hormuz and be paid for protecting it'

U.S. President Donald Trump said in remarks to Fox News that his country is moving to impose its control over the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that Iran “has nothing,” and indicating that action against it should have been taken decades ago.

Trump said: “We are imposing our control over the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has nothing. Action should have been taken against it 47 years ago.”

He added that the agreement with Tehran did not last because of what he described as Iran’s repeated breaches of its commitments, saying: “There was an agreement with Iran, but they violated it, and they always violate agreements. We will strike Iran very hard, and we hit them hard last night.”

Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said the United States would no longer continue securing it without compensation, explaining: “We used to guard the Strait of Hormuz without compensation, but now we will guard it and be paid for it. We will maintain the security of the strait and will most likely take charge of its administration.”

The U.S. president continued: “We will become the guardians of the Strait of Hormuz, and perhaps we will call ourselves the strait’s guardian angel. We should be paid for guarding the strait, and when we guard it, we will receive compensation.”

Trump stressed that his country would not bear the cost of protecting the waterway for free, saying: “Countries cannot expect us to guard the Strait of Hormuz for free as we have done for many years. We will protect the Strait of Hormuz and receive financial compensation for doing so.”

He added: “We only want to recover the costs of what we have done and be compensated for putting our forces at risk in the strait, and Iran is currently taking severe blows.”