The President of the United States (US) Donald Trump said that US should be reimbursed for what he described as its role in protecting wealthy nations in the Gulf, days after declaring the Iran ceasefire “over.”
“I want to be reimbursed because we’re protecting a very rich portion of the world. We’re spending money, so we are going to be reimbursed for protection,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
He named Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait as countries the US has protected and said that the US has been “protecting allies including Israel, including Saudi Arabia, including Qatar, including UAE. We’re protecting all of them, and we’ve done a very effective job.”
On Truth Social on Monday, Trump wrote that “the U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.”
Several Gulf countries have privately criticised the US for launching strikes against Iran without coordinating with them or preparing for the possibility that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz in response. These countries have since faced the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory strikes.
The remarks come after the collapse of a ceasefire between the US and Iran that was signed in mid-June. That truce had explicitly barred Tehran from imposing charges on commercial vessels passing through the strait. Trump declared the ceasefire “over” last week following renewed strikes between the two sides.
