36 mins ago
Leavitt presses countries benefiting from Iran war to help secure Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump is “absolutely right” to press countries benefiting from the dismantling of the Iranian regime to help the U.S. secure the Strait of Hormuz, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday morning.
Leavitt told “FOX & Friends” that Trump has spoken with many countries over the last several days.
“The president is speaking with our allies in Europe and also many of our partners in the Gulf and Arab world to encourage them to step up, to do more to open the Strait of Hormuz. And our NATO allies especially need to step up,” she said.
Leavitt later told reporters outside the White House that many countries in the Gulf and in Europe were “benefiting greatly” from the “United States military taking out the threat of Iran.”
“If you think about Europe, their ballistic missile capability that the United States military is currently wiping out was a direct and imminent threat to our European allies as well as our bases in the region, which is why President Trump took this action in the first place.”
Iranian strikes on commercial ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz have effectively stopped shipping traffic in the world’s most important oil choke point, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.
Leavitt said Iran’s actions regarding the Strait of Hormuz underscores why action is needed.
“I think the president is absolutely right to call on these countries to do more to help the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so that we can stop this terrorist regime from restricting the free flow of energy,” Leavitt said.
When a reporter asked Leavitt why Trump was calling on countries to send ship after telling the United Kingdom last week that the U.S. no longer needs British aircraft carriers, the press secretary said Trump addressed the matter to reporters the previous night.
“He said that he wished the U.K. had stepped up sooner and quicker,” Leavitt said. “But he continues to speak with our allies in Europe and is calling on them to do more, just as he did when he called on them to step up with respect to their defense spending in NATO. He’s calling them to do more here, and I think you’ll see that come to fruition.”
