00:00As you know, over the weekend, the President announced this project, Freedom, and the goal of it is to, frankly,
00:05if you want to talk about it, it's to rescue like almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries that
00:10are trapped inside of the Gulf and left for dead in the Persian Gulf by this Iranian regime.
00:18You know, for more than two months now, these innocent sailors and commercial crew members have been stranded out at
00:23sea because Iran is conducting something.
00:25It's not just criminal. It's criminal for sure, but it's desperate and destructive, this blockade of the Straits of Hormuz.
00:31Nations from around the world, the overwhelming majority of whom are not even engaged in any military hostilities, are now
00:37at risk not just of losing their cargo, but the lives of their own citizens because of this blockade.
00:44These ships, you know, you don't leave a ship out there for this long. You start running out of food.
00:48You start running out of potable water, essential supplies, and they're at the mercy of this piracy.
00:53What it is, it's piracy. And not only that, but some of them have seen, you know, been open fire
00:59on and rained down senseless attacks on several civilian ships already.
01:04So, frankly, the way to put it, these are innocent bystanders. These are countries and ships and so forth that
01:09have nothing to do with any of this and nonetheless are being caught in the middle of it and being
01:13held hostage merely because Iran could do that.
01:16Just because of, just as the regime brutally slaughtered tens of thousands of their own citizens for the crime of
01:23peaceful protest because they're unhappy with the quality of life or the lack of quality of life in Iran today
01:27and so they're sitting ducks.
01:29They're isolated, they're starving, they're vulnerable, and at least 10 sailors have already died as a result of the civilian
01:35sailors.
01:36So, already many nations privately and some publicly have asked the United States to help free their ships and to
01:42restore freedom of navigation in the Straits of Hormuz and this critical artery of global trade.
01:46And so, President Trump, as he always does, stepped up and answered the calls for their help and he's directed
01:52the United States military to guide these stranded ships to safety, to provide a protective bubble under which they can
01:57operate and move product and get themselves out of there and out of harm's way.
02:02And this is the first step towards reopening the strait and bringing this regime's last-ditch act of economic arson,
02:09bringing that to a close.
02:11Only, we're doing it not only because we were asked but because we're the only ones who can.
02:15Only we have the power to sort of take the steps that we've taken now.
02:18Under this president, under President Trump, the United States will help our friends.
02:23We're going to stand up to rogue regimes like the one in Tehran and we're going to be unashamed to
02:28use our power and our abilities to project military power in the service of our national interest above all else.
02:35Now, what's really important for you to report and for everyone to understand is this is not an offensive operation.
02:40This is a defensive operation and what that means is very simple.
02:44There's no shooting unless we're shot at first.
02:46Okay, we're not attacking them.
02:48But if they're attacking us or they're attacking a ship, you need to respond to that.
02:52You're not going to let some fast boat come up on the ship and shoot it up.
02:56We're going to respond to it and we've been successful at it.
02:58I don't know what the exact number is but I know a number of those fast boats have now been
03:01targeted and will continue to be if they pose a threat to our forces.
03:04We'll shoot down drones.
03:05We'll shoot down missiles.
03:06But it's defensive in nature.
03:08This is defensive.
03:08So if you hear stories about attacks and launching of firing back and forth, it's not back and forth.
03:14We are only responding if attacked first.
03:16This is a defensive operation and that's what's occurring here.
03:20Just about the importance of the straits for a moment.
03:22This is approximately a quarter of the world's oil trade along with significant volumes of fuel and fertilizer that operate
03:28through the straits of Hormuz.
03:30The Iranian regime cannot be allowed to dictate who uses this vital waterway.
03:34I don't think this is also being reported enough.
03:36Maybe you are reporting.
03:38I don't read everyone.
03:38I don't have any damn outlets here.
03:40I don't know who you all are.
03:41I mean I know who some of you are but I don't know who all of you are.
03:44But I will say this about it.
03:46This is an international waterway.
03:49This is an international waterway.
03:50And international law is very clear.
03:52And I love it because everybody always talks about international law and this.
03:55International law on this is very clear.
03:56International waterways, no country can control them.
03:59There is no international law that allows you to say I'm going to put mines in an international body of
04:04water and I'm going to blow up ships that don't listen to us and try to go through.
04:07That's what Iran is doing.
04:09This is a criminal act.
04:11And someone needs to do something about it.
04:12Something needs to be done.
04:13It's completely illegal, completely illegitimate and completely unacceptable.
04:17And that's why the United States military is guiding stranded commercial ships safely through the strait.
04:22And is working to restore freedom of navigation and putting an end to these efforts to hold the global economy
04:27hostage.
04:28So far as a proof of concept and as a proof of function.
04:32Two US flag merchant ships have successfully transferred the Strait of Hormuz in the first stages of this project.
04:38And they're now safely on their way.
04:40The US military is deploying the necessary assets to extend this defensive umbrella over commercial shipping.
04:46But there should be no mistake.
04:48And as I said this already, this is a defensive operation.
04:50I want to reiterate that point.
04:52This is important to understand.
04:53If no shots are fired at these ships and no shots are fired at us, we're not firing shots.
04:58But if we're fired on, we will respond and we will respond with lethal efficiency.
05:02The assets supporting this project, by the way, include guided missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea based aircraft, multi
05:09domain unmanned platforms and 15,000 of the finest military service members on the planet.
05:16These forces have already destroyed, as I told you earlier, I thought it was six, it's seven Iranian fast boats
05:21that failed to heed our warnings.
05:23And by fast boats, we're talking about, you know, some of these things look like Boston whalers.
05:27Okay, so these are not like Navy ships.
05:28But nonetheless, they come fast at these boats, try to swarm them, try to harm them.
05:32We're not going to let that happen.
05:33So seven of them now sit at the bottom of the sea, along with, by the way, the rest of
05:37Iran's Navy.
05:38That's where you can find their Navy today.
05:39And we're going to continue to systematically clear this passageway through the straits to restore freedom of navigation.
05:45Now, while this project steadily progresses, Operation Epic Fury, Economic Fury, I'm sorry, continues to impose maximum pressure on the
05:54Iranian regime and what remains of their already frail economy.
05:58Today, inflation in Iran is 70%, and their currency is in total and complete freefall.
06:05U.S. sanctions enforcement is stepping up.
06:07It's moving in lockstep with the naval blockade to degrade Iran's capacity to generate, to move, and repatriate revenue.
06:14It directly targets the regime's primary revenue lifelines.
06:18The blockade alone is costing Iran as much as $500 million a day in lost revenue.
06:26Ninety percent of total Iranian trade has been halted, causing permanent damage to Iran's oil infrastructure as wells are forced
06:32to shut in.
06:33Again, all of this is in response to their piracy.
06:37It cannot be that you have these straits, and they blow up any ship that moves, and the only ships
06:41they get to go through are theirs.
06:42You can't have a situation in which the straits are close to everyone else, but they benefit from the piracy.
06:47That can't happen. That's why the blockade is in place, and that's why these sanctions are crippling them.
06:52Any foreign financial, and by the way, Treasury is now identifying and cutting off every dollar of revenue that's flowing
06:58to this regime.
06:59And so, look, any foreign financial institution or commercial actor that enables Iran's sanctions evasion
07:04is going to face secondary sanctions exposure and a loss of access to the U.S. financial system.
07:10As President Trump has said, and the facts clearly bear out, the United States of America holds all the cards.
07:16There is no scenario here in which if they decide to join a ladder of escalation, they wind up getting
07:22the last say.
07:22But our preference is for these straits to be opened to the way they're supposed to be opened, back to
07:28the way it was.
07:29Anyone can use it. No mines in the water. Nobody paying tolls.
07:33That's what we have to get back to, and that's the goal here.
07:35You're welcome.
07:35But...
07:35I was...
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