US President: Strait of Hormuz will not retain its same level of importance, and naval blockade on Iranian ports is highly effective

Washington, Aug 19 (KUNA) – U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his belief on Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz “will not remain of the same importance,” affirming that the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports is “highly effective.” Speaking to reporters after a meeting with U.S. technology sector leaders at the White House, Trump said, “I don’t think the Strait of Hormuz will retain the same level of importance it once had, due to the reliance on oil sources in multiple geographic regions and the construction of a large number of pipelines.” He added, “We are exporting large quantities of oil, and people have found alternatives to oil shipments passing through the strait that they hadn’t considered before, such as from Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and other places, as well as the creation of record numbers of pipelines.” Trump noted that “for now, the strait is open and many ships are transiting it, even though people aren’t talking about it… Traffic may slow down somewhat at some point, but ships are still transiting in large numbers currently.” The U.S. president pointed to his administration’s imposition of “very strict sanctions” on Iran, reiterating that “the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports is highly effective.” He stated that “the rate of ships entering and leaving Iranian ports during the blockade has been (zero) throughout its duration, which has been a long period, except for some brief pauses during which we allowed passage under an agreement,” explaining that this agreement “has not yielded the expected results, as the Iranians say one thing and do another.” Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was likely that the Strait of Hormuz would lose a significant portion of its importance within two years, with expectations that 50 to 70 percent of the capacity currently passing through it would be rerouted via land pipelines. (End) R.S.R.