President Trump declared Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz is open after the US hit 140 targets in Iran over the latest attack on cargo ships in the critical passage.
Trump doubled down on US Central Command’s insistence that the key oil choke point was now open following an intense bombing campaign against Iran overnight, which targeted missile and drone sites, naval assets, ammunition storage facilities, communication networks, and surveillance locations.
“Yeah, it’s open. We bombed the hell out of them last night,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” contradicting Tehran’s warnings that the strait remains closed.
Trump echoed CENTCOM’s claim that “Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz” after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy attacked the M/V GFS Galaxy, a Cyprus-flagged container ship, and declared the waterway, which once carried 20% of the world’s oil, closed.
The president went on to claim that negotiations over the weekend were all but settled, with the Islamic republic supposedly surrendering to all of his demands.
“They agreed to a deal yesterday,” Trump said. “A perfect deal for us. No nuclear, no this, no that, no nothing.
“They gave up everything, and then after that, they left the room, and then within an hour, they launched a drone at a ship,” he added.
The Islamic republic has insisted that under the signed memorandum of understanding, Iran maintains full control of the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran repeatedly attacking ships that ignore its claim to the passage.
In response to the American airstrikes, Iran launched a wide-scale assault against American facilities across the Middle East.
The IRGC claimed it destroyed a command-and-control center and drone hangars in Jordan, targeted a radar site in Kuwait, attacked aircraft carrier support and refueling platforms in Oman and struck a jet maintenance center and command base in Qatar.
Other attacks and missile interceptions were reported in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, where the US houses military bases.
Qatar, which had previously served as a mediator between the US and Iran, slammed that assault, which left three people injured, including a child.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, vowed that the attacks would continue if the US continued to undermine its control over the Strait of Hormuz, which oversees 20% of the world’s oil transports.
“The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking,” Ghalibaf wrote X.
With Post Wires
