00:00The last point I would make, and it really is important for them to understand this, is they really shouldn't
00:04test the will of the United States, at least not under President Donald Trump.
00:07He has proven time and again that he will back up what he says.
00:11And if they test him, ultimately they will lose.
00:13The hard way, the easy way, the long way, the short way, they will lose.
00:17Just about the importance of the Straits for a moment.
00:19This is approximately a quarter of the world's oil trade, along with significant volumes of fuel and fertilizer that operate
00:25through the Straits of Hormuz.
00:26The Iranian regime cannot be allowed to dictate who uses this vital waterway.
00:31I don't think this is also being reported enough.
00:34Maybe you are reporting.
00:34I don't read everyone.
00:35I don't know if there are many damn outlets here.
00:37I don't know who you all are.
00:38I mean, I know who some of you are, but I don't know who all of you are.
00:41But I will say this about it.
00:43This is an international waterway.
00:45This is an international waterway.
00:47And international law is very clear.
00:49And I love it because everybody always talks about international law.
00:51And this international law on this is very clear.
00:53International waterways, no country can control them.
00:56There is no international law that allows you to say,
00:59I'm going to put mines in an international body of water,
01:01and I'm going to blow up ships that don't listen to us and try to go through.
01:04That's what Iran is doing.
01:06This is a criminal act.
01:08And someone needs to do something about it.
01:09Something needs to be done.
01:10It's completely illegal, completely illegitimate, and completely unacceptable.
01:14And that's why the United States military is guiding stranded commercial ships safely through the strait
01:19and is working to restore freedom of navigation
01:21and putting an end to these efforts to hold the global economy hostage.
01:25So far, as a proof of concept and as a proof of function,
01:29two U.S. flag merchant ships have successfully transferred the strait of Hormuz
01:33in the first stages of this project, and they're now safely on their way.
01:37The U.S. military is deploying the necessary assets to extend this defensive umbrella over commercial shipping.
01:43But there should be no mistake.
01:45And as I said this already, this is a defensive operation.
01:47I want to reiterate that point.
01:49This is important to understand.
01:50If no shots are fired at these ships and no shots are fired at us, we're not firing shots.
01:55But if we're fired on, we will respond, and we will respond with lethal efficiency.
01:59Now, while this project steadily progresses, Operation Epic Fury, economic fury, I'm sorry,
02:04continues to impose maximum pressure on the Iranian regime and what remains of their already frail economy.
02:11Today, inflation in Iran is 70 percent, and their currency is in total and complete freefall.
02:18U.S. sanctions enforcement is stepping up.
02:20It's moving in lockstep with the naval blockade to degrade Iran's capacity to generate, to move, and repatriate revenue.
02:27It directly targets the regime's primary revenue lifelines.
02:31The blockade alone is costing Iran as much as $500 million a day in lost revenue.
02:39Ninety percent of total Iranian trade has been halted, causing permanent damage to Iran's oil infrastructure as wells are forced
02:45to shut in.
02:46Again, all of this is in response to their piracy.
02:49It cannot be that you have these straits, and they blow up any ship that moves, and the only ships
02:54they get to go through are theirs.
02:55You can't have a situation in which the straits are close to everyone else, but they benefit from the piracy.
02:59That can't happen.
03:01That's why the blockade is in place, and that's why these sanctions are crippling them.
03:05Any foreign financial, and by the way, Treasury is now identifying and cutting off every dollar of revenue that's flowing
03:11to this regime.
03:11And so, look, any foreign financial institution or commercial actor that enables Iran's sanctions evasion is going to face secondary
03:18sanctions exposure and a loss of access to the U.S. financial system.
03:23As President Trump has said, and the facts clearly bear out, the United States of America holds all the cards.
03:29There is no scenario here in which if they decide to join a ladder of escalation, they wind up getting
03:35the last say.
03:36But our preference is for these straits to be opened to the way they're supposed to be opened, back to
03:41the way it was.
03:42Anyone can use it.
03:43No mines in the water.
03:44Nobody paying tolls.
03:46That's what we have to give back to, and that's the goal here.
03:48Every day the conflict continues, however.
03:50Our leverage on Iran will continue to increase, and their position will continue to weaken,
03:54especially as the blockade really begins to bite in conjunction with the sanctions.
Comments