US President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that the Strait of Hormuz is open after American forces carried out strikes on around 140 targets in Iran following attacks on cargo ships in the strategic waterway.
Trump backed the US Central Command’s statement that the key oil transit route had been reopened after an overnight bombing campaign targeting Iranian missile and drone sites, naval assets, ammunition storage facilities, communication networks and surveillance locations.
Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Trump said, “Yeah, it’s open. We bombed the hell out of them last night,” while rejecting Iran’s claims that the strait remained closed.
Trump alleged that Iran had agreed to a deal a day earlier but later withdrew. He said the proposed agreement included no nuclear activities and that Tehran had “given up everything” before leaving discussions and launching a drone attack on a ship.
Iran has maintained that it controls the Strait of Hormuz under a signed memorandum of understanding and has repeatedly targeted ships that it claims violate its authority over the passage.
Following the US strikes, Iran launched attacks on American facilities across the Middle East.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it targeted a command centre and drone hangars in Jordan, a radar site in Kuwait, aircraft carrier support and refuelling platforms in Oman, and a jet maintenance centre and command base in Qatar.
