WASHINGTON, DC -- House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) released the following statement in response to the President Trump’s recent remarks that the United States will take control of the Strait of Hormuz for financial gain.
“I wholeheartedly condemn the president’s suggestion that the United States is going to take over the Strait of Hormuz. Firstly, there is likely no scenario in which the U.S. could take total control of the Strait of Hormuz without significantly escalating the conflict and putting U.S. military personnel in harm’s way. To do so and demand other countries pay us to gain safe passage would be a violation of international law and, frankly, just wrong. The President of the United States is now in a fight with Iran over who can extort the rest of the world.
“We are also over four months into Trump’s ill-conceived war and no closer to achieving this administration’s constantly shifting strategic objectives. Namely removing Iran’s highly enriched uranium, stopping their work with terrorist proxies, destroying their ballistic missile program, or changing the current regime. Iran has gained greater leverage, continues to destabilize the region, and has a younger and more hardline leadership than when this war started. The Strait of Hormuz was free and open before Trump launched his disastrous war.
“Losses also continue to accumulate, from causalities of American service members and innocent civilians to tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being wasted while driving up the cost of gas and groceries at home and throttling economies around the world.
“I urge my colleagues across the aisle to join congressional Democrats in condemning the president’s irrational and reckless threats. It is past time for them to work with us to ensure the president finds a diplomatic solution to ending a war he never should have started and that threatens our national security and defense as well as that of our partners."
“I wholeheartedly condemn the president’s suggestion that the United States is going to take over the Strait of Hormuz. Firstly, there is likely no scenario in which the U.S. could take total control of the Strait of Hormuz without significantly escalating the conflict and putting U.S. military personnel in harm’s way. To do so and demand other countries pay us to gain safe passage would be a violation of international law and, frankly, just wrong. The President of the United States is now in a fight with Iran over who can extort the rest of the world.
“We are also over four months into Trump’s ill-conceived war and no closer to achieving this administration’s constantly shifting strategic objectives. Namely removing Iran’s highly enriched uranium, stopping their work with terrorist proxies, destroying their ballistic missile program, or changing the current regime. Iran has gained greater leverage, continues to destabilize the region, and has a younger and more hardline leadership than when this war started. The Strait of Hormuz was free and open before Trump launched his disastrous war.
“Losses also continue to accumulate, from causalities of American service members and innocent civilians to tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being wasted while driving up the cost of gas and groceries at home and throttling economies around the world.
“I urge my colleagues across the aisle to join congressional Democrats in condemning the president’s irrational and reckless threats. It is past time for them to work with us to ensure the president finds a diplomatic solution to ending a war he never should have started and that threatens our national security and defense as well as that of our partners."
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