New York : US President Donald Trump has claimed that Washington has gained “almost total control” over the Strait of Hormuz, while asserting that Iran’s economy is “totally collapsing”. His remarks come as tensions between the US and Iran continue to escalate amid an intensifying exchange of strikes between the two sides. US launched a fresh wave of airstrikes against Iran, Trump dismissed a report by ABC News that he was trying to force Tehran back to the negotiating table, saying he was not interested in pushing Iran into an agreement.
Tehran, however, has rejected Washington’s assertions and maintained that the strategic waterway remains under Iranian control. Trump’s remarks came after the US launched a barrage of airstrikes against Iranian targets on Tuesday, triggering retaliation from Tehran against US assets and bases in Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq. The fresh strikes followed a weekend exchange of fire — the first since July — and attacks on Monday on two tankers leaving Hormuz.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the US strikes would “tighten the lock” on the strategic waterway. Iranian officials have warned that if Tehran is prevented from exporting oil through the Gulf, no other country would be able to do so either. Trump, meanwhile, has rejected the prospect of another ceasefire, saying an agreement with Tehran “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on” and that Iran had already been given enough chances.
Iranian forces on Monday stateside had hit a U.S. base in Jordan after American forces attacked rocket launchers on Iran’s Larak Island the day before. Washington claimed that the launchers were preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the strait.The Sunday strikes were the first time that the U.S. and Iran traded attacks in about a month, and after the Trump administration said it was launching an “economic D-Day” on Tehran’s backers.
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