CANBERRA: United States President
Donald Trump’s proposal to charge a 20 per cent fee on cargo moving through the Strait of Hormuz under US protection was quickly walked back within a day. But it revealed how much the war is shifting.
More than 130 days into the conflict, what started as an effort to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions is, at its core, becoming a fight over freedom of navigation.
Iran’s continued attacks on commercial shipping, despite the economic incentives contained in the
June memorandum of understanding (MOU), show that Tehran is serious about using control of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage.
The US must adapt its strategy in response, but the threat to charge a toll was fundamentally in the wrong direction.
Iran has a history of attacking and interfering with shipping, from the Tanker War during its conflict with Iraq in the 1980s to attacks on six civilian vessels in and around the Gulf of Oman in 2019, and many other incidents of interference.
When Iran wants to send a strategic message, it attacks shipping.
In this context, it was not surprising that Iran responded to the first attacks by the US and Israel on Feb 28 by targeting civilian ships across the Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. Jennifer Parker, CNA
Reading this silly malicious article, one cannot miss the message that the author was trying to pin all the blame on Iran, that Iran wanted to control the Strait of Hormuz, wanted to impose a fee, that Iran was trigger happy to attack ships, even just to send a message.
The whole world knows that this war was started by the American and Israeli terrorists to want to kill Iranians, to take over Iran. And the two terrorists fabricated lies about not wanting Iran to have nuclear weapons, wanting to change the regime in Iran, about wanting to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and free. For the latter, the American clowns can no longer spin any silly stories about their intention as they are the ones that wanted to control the Strait of Hormuz, wanted to impose a fee, wanting to stop freedom of navigation and have been attacking ships transiting the Strait. Only the very dull and very dense would not want to know about these.
As for the smearing of Iran as the trouble maker, wanting to attack ships in the Strait, this is another silly lie. It was the American terrorists that started attacking ships in the first place, blockading the Strait and Iran was all the time reacting and responding to the American aggression.
The American terrorists are not only the world's number one terrorists, they are the world's number one warmonger. Iran would not have attacked any ship, the Strait of Hormuz would have been open to all, ships moving freely, if the American terrorists have not started the bombing and attacks on Iran.
Stop spreading such silly lies to dupe the unwary and innocent readers and make them fools with such malicious ideas planted into their brain. The readers deserved better, more truthful reporting, factual reporting, instead of being fed with white men's lies.