Trump says U.S. 'taking over the strait' as conflict with Iran reignites

Geoff Bennett:

The U.S. is striking Iran for the third consecutive night, and Iran said a short time ago it had fired a cruise missile at a U.S. Navy ship. The attacks come after President Trump formally notified Congress that the U.S. and Iran have resumed fighting. Mr. Trump also said today he would again blockade Iran and the Strait of Hormuz and impose a 20 percent tax on ships passing through the strait, a move his own administration denounced when Iran proposed a similar tax.

Liz Landers starts us off on this busy day.

Liz Landers:

Over the weekend, war reignited. American cruise missiles lit up the night sky. U.S. Central Command said it hit more than a dozen military targets, including the Bandar Abbas naval base using unmanned sea drones. The U.S. says the attack will degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping.

But Iran also launched a wave of missiles across the Gulf region. This U.S. military base in Kuwait went up in flames. No U.S. personnel were injured, according to Central Command, the tit for tat exchange exploding tensions over the embattled Strait of Hormuz, which both sides claim to control.

President Donald Trump:

Well, we're taking over the strait.

Liz Landers:

On an early morning phone call with FOX News, President Trump reiterated that the U.S. will be, in his words, the guardians of the strait.

Donald Trump:

We had a deal. It was a done deal. And then they broke it. They always break it. We have had 10 deals with these people. And so we're just going to hit them very hard.

And we're going to -- we're going to keep the strait, and we will probably run it. We will become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we will call it the guardian angel of the strait. And we should be reimbursed for that.

Liz Landers:

On TRUTH Social, the president specified that the U.S. would charge a 20 percent toll on cargo from every country that passes through the strait. A spokesperson for the U.N. shipping agency says there is no legal basis for such a tax.

U.S. Central Command also announced that U.S. forces will resume the naval blockade of ships entering and exiting Iranian ports starting tomorrow afternoon. Iran too was defiant. The Foreign Ministry insisted that Iran manages traffic and even has the right to potentially charge fees, not the U.S.

Iran's military also issued a warning:

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, Iranian Military Spokesperson (through interpreter):

Any cooperation with the United States and any logistical support for that country's aggressor military will be regarded as an act of war against Iran's sovereignty and national security. Should the war spread across the region, the flames of war will engulf every country in the region.

Liz Landers:

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, mocked President Trump's proposed fee for passage in the strait, writing: "Twenty percent is too much" and Iran -- quote -- "will be fair."

The United States and Iran both agreed to a memorandum of understanding in mid-June that allows for free flow of commercial shipping in the strait for 60 days. But the agreement also said -- quote -- "Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz."

The United States committed to lift and remove the naval blockade within 30 days. It also included a provision that both nations would respect the other's sovereignty. Both sides have accused the other of violating the memorandum in recent weeks.

Today, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the deal has entered a -- quote -- "state of crisis."

Esmaeil Baghaei, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through interpreter):

If we look at the 14 provisions, the Americans have in one way or another mutilated various parts of it in this short period. From the outset, we have said that commitments would be met with commitments. We will fulfill our obligations only as long as the other side abides by its commitments.

Liz Landers:

Despite the United States' military superiority, MIT Professor Caitlin Talmadge explains that completely eliminating the Iranian ability to threaten shipping could be impossible with a U.S. strategy largely reliant on airpower.

Caitlin Talmadge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: In the history of airpower, there has never been a military campaign in which bombing alone has produced the sort of democratic regime change that we heard the administration talking about as one of its goals in the opening days of the war.

In almost all cases where airpower achieves successful results, it's used in combination with other tools, particularly ground forces. And even when it is used in combination with other tools, it doesn't always achieve decisive results.

Liz Landers:

Talmadge says, with both the United States and Iran claiming victory and making demands of the other, is a formula for a standstill.

Could this go on indefinitely?

Caitlin Talmadge:

Yes, it might be the case that this is the new equilibrium, where there is continuing low-level, relatively low-level back-and-forth conflict over the strait, and with respect to U.S. regional allies and U.S. bases, and neither side is able to actually bring it to some sort of decisive conclusion.

And we should remember that there are real constraints on both sides' ability to potentially bring it to a decisive conclusion. Iran is the weaker military power. It does not have the ability to evict the United States from the region. It is still highly vulnerable to U.S. attacks.

But on the other hand, the United States' willingness to escalate is limited because of the costs and dangers involved in going to ground forces, because of limits on its munitions in a continuing airpower campaign, and because of the higher oil prices that are involved in continuing a naval blockade. So they may not be able to have one of them checkmate the other. It could go on like this.

Liz Landers:

The president hinting this afternoon during a radio interview that he will strike that site called Pickaxe Mountain, saying that the United States will -- quote -- "probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon."

We connected with David Albright with the Institute for Science and International Security, and he told us that Pickaxe Mountain is a nuclear-related site under construction that is supposed to hold centrifuges for enriching uranium, and that it was large enough to also hold certain nuclear weaponization activities like converting the enriched uranium gas into metal and shaping it into bomb components, Geoff.

Geoff Bennett:

So, Liz, tell us more about the letter the president sent to Congress notifying lawmakers of resumed military action between the U.S. and Iran.

Liz Landers:

We obtained this today, but this was actually sent on Friday of last week, July 10. And it was sent by the president to Chuck Grassley, who's the Senate -- most senior senator in that body.

And this comes as we laid out in our story that the U.S. and Iran have been exchanging frequent fire in and around the Strait of Hormuz. So the president sends these formal notices to Congress about U.S. military actions to be in compliance with the war powers resolution. The president has to notify Congress within 48 hours of U.S. troops being deployed into hostilities.

So this resolution also -- the resolution also says that the president has to wind down activities, unilateral activities that a president takes within 60 days. So the president notified Congress a few months ago when all of this started. That put a 60-day timeline on things.

And then the administration told them 60 days afterwards that things had wound down. That was clearly not the case, Geoff. We have seen these strikes since then. And so now the president is notifying them. It seems like he thinks that he is restarting the clock on the 60 days.

Geoff Bennett:

OK, Liz Landers, thanks, as always.

Liz Landers:

Of course.