The US Navy could be deployed to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran effectively closed the vital trade route through the Persian Gulf, President Trump has confirmed.
The strait is a major shipping lane linking Iran, Iraq, eastern Saudi Arabia and Oman with Asia through the Arabian Sea and with Europe, via the Suez Canal.
Around a fifth of the world’s total oil supply passes through the strait each year but, following US and Israeli strikes on its territory, Iran has effectively closed the route by threatening to attack commercial vessels in the area, prompting underwriters to refuse ships insurance in many cases.
As a result, oil and gas prices have seen significant increases this week, as have prices of refined chemicals used in fertiliser production, sparking concerns of energy and food inflation in the coming weeks.
In response, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to announce that he had ordered the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC), a federal agency, to provide insurance to ships looking to travel through the strait.
He wrote: “Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the [DFC] to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, travelling through the Gulf. This will be available to all Shipping Lines.”
"If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible,” he continued.
"No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD. The United States’ ECONOMIC and MILITARY MIGHT is the GREATEST ON EARTH — More actions to come.”
At the same time, Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US Central Command (Centcom), which is responsible for operations in the Middle East, confirmed that US forces have destroyed 17 Iranian warships, and that none remained operational in the strait.
The announcements came as the administration seemed to walk back on comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which he appeared to suggest that the US was forced to launch strikes on Iran because Israel was already set to do so.
Speaking at a press conference at the Capitol on Monday, Rubio told reporters: “It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone – the United States or Israel or anyone – they were going to respond, and respond against the United States.
"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
He was subsequently publicly contradicted by Trump, who said: “If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
Attempting to clarify his remarks during another media briefing on Tuesday, Rubio said: “I told you, this had to happen anyway, the president made a decision, and the decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile programme.
"The bottom line is this. We, the president, determined we were not going to get hit first.”
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