‘What’s the End Game?’ Trump Grilled On Strait of Hormuz Blockade, Confirms It Has Started

President Donald Trump was asked during an exchange with reporters outside the Oval Office on Monday what his ” endgame ” is in blockading the Strait of Hormuz, which he confirmed has begun.

“As far as the naval blockade is concerned, what’s the end game? Is it to force Iran back to the negotiating table? Is it to open up the Strait so the gas crisis ultimately—” asked Gray Television White House Correspondent Jon Decker as Trump jumped in.

“Maybe everything. I mean, both of those things certainly, and more. We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing. They’re really blackmailing the world. We’re not gonna let that happen. And you know, the amazing thing is — we don’t — can you believe this? We don’t use this strait,” Trump replied, adding:

We don’t need this strait. We have our own oil and gas, much more than we need. We have more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia. Think of this: we produce more than Saudi Arabia, and add Russia to it — substantially more. And by next year, we’ll have double that amount. So we don’t need it, but the world needs it. And many ships are heading to our country right now, as we speak, to load up with the best. Really, I guess you could say — somebody said — the best and sweetest.

I don’t know exactly what “sweet” is, but when it relates to oil, it’s a good thing. But they’re coming to our country right now. There are many boats coming to our country now. It could very well be that this is going to be settled before that. We’ve been called this morning by the right people, the appropriate people, and they want to work a deal. They would like to work the deal.

“Is it your anticipation, Mr. President, that other countries will assist in this effort to blockade Iran and those—” followed up Decker.

“Yeah, other countries are going to also,” Trump replied as  Decker pressed, “Which countries, sir?”

“We don’t need other countries, frankly, but they’ve offered their services. We’ll let it be known probably tomorrow,” Trump answered.

“Has the blocking started, sir?” asked another reporter.

Trump replied, “Yeah, I started it at 10 o’clock.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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