President Donald Trump has floated the idea of the U.S. taking permanent control of the Strait of Hormuz—and he wants to get paid for it. In a phone interview with Fox News on Monday, Trump dismissed Iran's claims of blocking the strategic waterway, saying, “We're taking over the strait. They have nothing.”
Trump described the potential U.S. role as the “guardian angel of the strait” and made it clear that this time, the service won't come free. “We guarded it for nothing, and now we're going to guard it — we're going to get reimbursed for guarding it,” he said. He added that “the other nations are very wealthy, they are on our side and we can't be expected to do it for nothing, unlike we had for many years.”
The comments came after Trump warned Iran over an alleged violation of a military agreement. He claimed the U.S. had hammered Iranian equipment overnight and could permanently take over security operations in the Middle East. “Every time they send a drone, we hit them very hard,” the President said. He expressed frustration with Iran's pattern of breaking deals, hinting at more aggressive action: “They always break it… so we're just going to hit them very hard and we're going to keep the Strait and we'll probably run.”
