‘Lot of boats’ coming through Strait of Hormuz, says Trump, admits to ‘nuisance’ of Iranian drones
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Lot of boats’ coming through Strait of Hormuz, says Trump, admits to ‘nuisance’ of Iranian drones")
President Donald Trump claimed complete possession and control of the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: (AFP)
The White House hasn’t directly admitted the US Navy is assisting a limited number of oil tankers out of the strait. Brent crude, the international standard for oil prices, was at about $92 a barrel on Wednesday and has been over $90 all week, creeping up from a wartime low of $71.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States has a lot of boats coming through the Strait of Hormuz and claimed possession and complete control of the strait.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said that the US has a lot of boats coming through the Strait of Hormuz, as he was apparently referring to reports that the US Navy has been assisting in getting some oil safely through the strait.
“Last night, we had a lot of boats come through,” Trump said during a tour of the helipad currently under construction outside the White House.
“We have possession, complete control of the strait, I mean, outside of nuisance value. And there has been nuisance value when they shoot a drone every once in a while.”
He continued, “And not everybody is going to go through but they come through and over the last couple of weeks we’ve had a lot of oil coming in. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s a lot of oil coming in.”
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The White House hasn’t directly admitted the US Navy is assisting a limited number of oil tankers out of the strait, though The New York Times reported on Wednesday that about 5 million barrels of oil are getting through the strait daily, down from 15 million barrels before the war.
“One of the reasons that oil hasn’t gone to the proverbial $300 a barrel — it’s at $83, $84, $85 — and it’ll be a lot lower when this is over because we have plenty of oil,” Trump said.
“One of the reasons that it never went to $300, $350 numbers is because we do have a lot coming in.”
Brent crude, the international standard for oil prices, was at about $92 a barrel on Wednesday and has been over $90 all week, creeping up from a wartime low of $71 during a brief ceasefire in late June and early July.
Trump also said that “people” were coming to the United States for oil supplies, but did not specify who was coming to the US.
“They’re coming to Texas, Alaska, Louisiana to get oil,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command said on Wednesday that the military blockade on the Strait of Hormuz redirected one ship in the past day, bringing the total number of vessels prevented from exiting or entering Iranian ports to 65 since the blockade was restarted on July 14.
President Trump has consistently touted the blockade as a reason he is not concerned over negotiations with Iran being on hold at the moment.
