Donald Trump is set to announce in the coming days the formation of an international coalition to escort commercial shipping vessels through the Strait of Hormuz as his war with Iran enters its third week.
U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that the White House’s announcement of the group would come as soon as this week. But it was unclear whether those escort missions would begin before the Trump administration and Iran came to an agreement to end the war that has now resulted in the death of Iran’s supreme leader, thousands of casualties on the Iranian side and the deaths of 13 U.S. service members.
Members of the Trump administration have said for several days that the U.S. Navy would provide support to commercial vessels attempting to sail through the small waterway off Iran’s coast as it has become a strategic asset in Iran’s efforts to deter and fight off a joint American-Israeli military offensive. Iran’s ability to restrict passage through the strait with sea mines and small vessels has put a strain on oil prices, which have spiked as the route was closed off. About 20 percent of the world’s daily oil usage passes through the Strait.
Over the two weeks since Trump’s operation began, oil prices have shot past $100 per barrel globally and in the U.S. the gas price average has jumped by more than 70 cents per gallon. Republicans in Congress have publicly and privately urged the White House to take action to end a short-term economic shock to millions of Americans at the beginning of an election year when their party is already on the defensive in both chambers of Congress.
The president and some members of his party, however, have resisted those public calls to end the war quickly in the hopes of averting longer-lasting supply issues.
Some have even said that Americans are willing to bear the brunt of the economic costs of Trump’s war at a time when affordability, inflation and energy prices have already been ranked as voters’ top concerns for months, through the entire 2024 election cycle.
“Freedom is not free,” Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said on CNN. “Americans are gonna have to make some sacrifices,”
Polling indicates that more than half of Americans oppose Trump’s war with Iran, while about four in ten support it.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week that the U.S. would soon begin escorting commercial vessels through the strait, though he contended that the military wasn’t ready at that time.
“It'll happen relatively soon, but it can't happen now. We're simply not ready,” he said Thursday.
Wright added on CNN: "We're gonna bring oil to market through other avenues to get through a few weeks of a short-term dislocation ... You've gotta go through short-term pain to solve a long-term problem. This is bold leadership from President Trump. This is what the world needs."
On Sunday, he was pressed by NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press as to why the strait was still “effectively closed” by Iranian forces.
“Because it’s right near the Iranian shoreline. The world is abundantly supplied with oil and energy,” Wright claimed.
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