Trump says US will soon control key straits linked to Iran

US president claims Iran has lost much of its missile and drone capabilities.

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said the United States is “essentially controlling” strategic waterways linked to Iran and will soon take full control, while insisting Tehran will never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.

In an interview with his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump defended his military actions against Iran and acknowledged that Americans could face higher petrol and energy costs because of the conflict.

“Now with Iran, they will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in the interview broadcast by 77 WABC Radio. “We’ve, we’re controlling, essentially controlling and soon controlling the Straits. We’re doing very well with Iran.”

Trump did not identify the waterways by name in the portion of the interview released on Wednesday. He said Iran’s navy, air force and leadership had been severely weakened, making it difficult to reach a negotiated settlement.

“Part of the problem is so many of the leaders are gone. It’s not easy to make a deal. Nobody knows who’s leading,” Trump said.

He argued that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons justified increased costs for American consumers.

“And I tell them, they’ll be, uh, a little higher for your energy cost, but they’ll be a little bit higher for gasoline,” Trump said. “But we have to make a journey to the Middle East because we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

The president claimed Iran had been “militarily wiped out” and had lost much of its capacity to produce missiles and drones. He also cited soaring inflation, a weakened currency and unpaid military personnel as evidence of pressure on Tehran.

“The reason I did it, and we had no choice, and I would’ve done it again a hundred times, they cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t be having a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Trump also defended the use of B-2 bombers against Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the operation was conducted deep at night and that every bomb struck its target.

“When we hit them with the B-2 bombers, they were exactly two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon,” he said. “And that’s why I had to do it, because you cannot let them have that kind of a weapon.”

The president contended that Iran would have attacked Israel and other countries in the Middle East if it had obtained nuclear weapons. He named Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Bahrain among countries he said had been targeted by Iranian missiles.

“There would be no Israel if there was no Donald Trump,” he said, adding: “I believe the Middle East would have been entirely wiped out, but Israel definitely would have been wiped out.”

Trump also discussed Venezuela, immigration, tariffs and the US economy. He claimed tariffs were bringing automobile, semiconductor, pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturing back to the United States. He described the investment and construction activity as “a renaissance”.

Cohen served for years as Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer before the two men had a bitter public rupture. He later testified against Trump and became one of his most prominent critics.