WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States could take control of operations in the Strait of Hormuz and expects other countries to pay Washington for protecting the strategic waterway, prompting a swift warning from Iran’s military.”We’re going to guard it. We’re going to get paid for guarding it — a lot of money. We want to be reimbursed for putting our people in danger,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.Trump accused Iran of violating the memorandum of understanding reached between Washington and Tehran on June 18.”We had a deal. They always break it. We’re just going to hit them very hard. We’ll probably run the Strait,” he said.”We’ll be the guardian angel. We should be reimbursed for that,” Trump added.Iran’s military responded by saying it “does not and will not allow” the United States to interfere in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.In a statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said Washington’s “repeated adventures” in seeking to interfere in the management of the strategic waterway had seriously jeopardized regional security.The Iranian military vowed to respond forcefully to any actions that disrupt commercial shipping and oil tanker traffic, warning it would “deal severely” with any U.S. military presence outside designated routes and without authorization from Iran’s armed forces.It also warned regional countries against cooperating with the U.S. military in the Strait of Hormuz.
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