WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said the renewed strikes on Iran will "not last too long."
Asked by reporters at the White House on the 2nd how long the new air campaign against Iran would continue, Trump said he did not know how much longer Iran could hold out but that it did not matter either way. Iran had been trying to rebuild its radar, missile and mine-laying systems, he said, and was attempting to build rockets that launch mines, which was why the U.S. destroyed them. He added that the previous night's strikes were very powerful and that the U.S. was ready to resume attacks whenever it wanted.
The U.S. military began striking targets near the Strait of Hormuz on the 30th of last month, its first action there in about a month. It hit two launchers on Larak Island after detecting Iranian preparations to fire missiles fitted with mines.
Trump also referred to the Strait of Hormuz as the "TRUMP STRAIT" in a post on his social media platform Truth Social the same day. Now that the Strait of Hormuz is under U.S. control, he wrote, perhaps the name should be changed to the "Trump Strait," adding that it would get hotter than ever, like America.
Trump used the same name in a March 27 speech at the Future Investment Initiative summit in Miami, Florida, before immediately correcting himself. Shortly after those remarks, the New York Post reported that he was considering renaming the waterway either the Trump Strait or the "Strait of America." On the 29th of the same month, Trump again called it the Trump Strait in an interview with Israel's Channel 14, claiming the U.S. had secured control of the Strait of Hormuz.
