Trump notifies Congress of new war against Iran as | Political News

President Donald Trump has formally notified lawmakers that the U.S. is once again at war with Iran after a fragile ceasefire was put in place.

The notification of war permits the president an further 60 days to deploy the navy in the area without searching for congressional approval. In a letter dated July 10, obtained by Politico, the president said that the strikes against Iran, which started on July 7, represented “military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and the United States’ interests both at home and abroad.”

Trump’s on-and-off-again war has been the hardest problem of his administration as the 2 nations vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz, a very important chokepoint for a lot of the world’s power provide. The president has repeatedly fumed about the shortcoming to strike a peace deal with Iran, as Republicans fear that the high power costs may cost a little them the upcoming midterms.

On Monday, the president beefed up the U.S. navy presence in the nation by declaring that naval forces would reimpose a blockade on the strait and start charging a toll on all ships coming into. The letter would also enable Trump to declare that the ceasefire, established in April, is formally over.

According to U.S. Central Command, American navy forces have struck more than 300 Iranian navy targets in the last week in retaliation for Tehran’s continued hostile acts. On Monday, U.S. forces launched further strikes “at the Commander in Chief’s direction.”

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM’s assertion read. The assertion got here after Trump issued a letter to Congress in May stating that the initial battle in February had been terminated.

On Monday, Trump claimed in a new Truth Social Post that the U.S. will charge 20% to each cargo ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz, including that America will “be the guardian” of the ultra-important waterway. Trump also says that the Strait of Hormuz will keep open regardless of Iran, while the U.S. would reimpose a blockade aimed only at Iranian ships and their prospects.

He proposes the U.S. act as the “guardian” of the strait, letting other international locations use it freely, but charging a 20% price on all cargo transiting to cowl security prices, with the plan beginning immediately. “The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving.”

“All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait,” he added. “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. The process and formation will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Trump said on Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” that the U.S. was taking over the Strait. He added that “everything was agreed to” in an 11-hour meeting on Sunday, but Iranian negotiators called back later, and they say, ‘we had to make a couple of changes.” He didn’t specify details.

“We’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it,” Trump said. “We’ll become the guardian of the strait — maybe we’ll call it the guardian angel of the strait. And we should be reimbursed for that.”

“We can’t be expected to do that for nothing, unlike we had for many years,” Trump added. “We guarded it for nothing, and now we’re going to guard it, we’re going to get paid for guarding it. A lot of money.”