Trump claims U.S. to become Strait of Hormuz's 'guardian'

President Donald Trump on Monday said that the U.S. would become the "guardian" of the Strait of Hormuz after Washington resumed active hostilities with Iran.

Trump has previously floated versions of a peace deal in which the U.S. retained some authority over the waterway, but escalated his plans on Monday, telling Fox News that he planned to "keep" the strait outright.

“We’ll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we’ll become the guardian angel of the strait, and we should be reimbursed for that,” Trump told the outlet. “When we do that we’re going to be reimbursed because the other nations are very wealthy, they’re on our side, and we can’t be expected to do that for nothing unlike we had for many years.”

“We’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it,” he also said.

What "keeping" the strait actually means in terms of troop deployments and long-term operations remains unclear. 

The war began in late February with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that took out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The conflict was in a period of nominal ceasefire for months, though intermittent clashes in the strait led to a breakdown in negotiations and the resumption of open war.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.