Trump Floats US Occupier Role in Iran, Claims Hormuz
(MENAFN) Donald Trump on Friday suggested the United States “could be an occupier” in Iran, asserting that Washington controls the Strait of Hormuz and is pulling record volumes of oil from the strategic waterway.
Speaking to reporters after delivering a speech at a NASA facility in Florida, Trump drew a contrast between the US war with Iran and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which he said killed 25,000 people in October.
“That’s called a war,” Trump said of the fighting between Moscow and Kyiv.
The US campaign against Iran, now in its ninth month, does not qualify as a war, he argued, because “nobody’s even wounded” in several months.
“All we are is maybe an occupier. (We) could be an occupier,” he added.
Trump repeated his claim that the US holds sway over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global energy supplies. “We control the Hormuz Strait,” he said. “We’re taking out more oil now than we have at any time in the history of the Hormuz Strait.”
Pressed on whether US forces carried out reported strikes near Iran’s Qeshm Island on Friday, Trump at first declined to discuss the matter but acknowledged limited military activity.
“I don’t want to talk about. We do minor strikes,” he said.
He said Iranian forces had built an anti-aircraft installation, which the US destroyed within minutes.
The comments follow his confirmation days earlier of US strikes on an Iranian air defense facility on Qeshm Island, which he described as a minor attack rather than a return to full-scale war.
Iran has dismissed the US claims of control over the strait. Tehran says it retains strategic command of the waterway and will not reopen it until its conditions are met.
The US and Israel launched a military offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. A ceasefire was reached in April, followed by a June memorandum meant to pave the way for a peace deal, but negotiations have yet to yield a final settlement.
Speaking to reporters after delivering a speech at a NASA facility in Florida, Trump drew a contrast between the US war with Iran and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which he said killed 25,000 people in October.
“That’s called a war,” Trump said of the fighting between Moscow and Kyiv.
The US campaign against Iran, now in its ninth month, does not qualify as a war, he argued, because “nobody’s even wounded” in several months.
“All we are is maybe an occupier. (We) could be an occupier,” he added.
Trump repeated his claim that the US holds sway over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global energy supplies. “We control the Hormuz Strait,” he said. “We’re taking out more oil now than we have at any time in the history of the Hormuz Strait.”
Pressed on whether US forces carried out reported strikes near Iran’s Qeshm Island on Friday, Trump at first declined to discuss the matter but acknowledged limited military activity.
“I don’t want to talk about. We do minor strikes,” he said.
He said Iranian forces had built an anti-aircraft installation, which the US destroyed within minutes.
The comments follow his confirmation days earlier of US strikes on an Iranian air defense facility on Qeshm Island, which he described as a minor attack rather than a return to full-scale war.
Iran has dismissed the US claims of control over the strait. Tehran says it retains strategic command of the waterway and will not reopen it until its conditions are met.
The US and Israel launched a military offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. A ceasefire was reached in April, followed by a June memorandum meant to pave the way for a peace deal, but negotiations have yet to yield a final settlement.
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