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Trump says he wants Gulf states to reimburse US for ‘protection’ from Iran

US President Donald Trump says he wants the United States to be reimbursed by Gulf countries in the region for working to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid ongoing Iranian attacks.

“I want to be reimbursed because we’re protecting a very rich portion of the world. We’re spending money, so… we are going to be reimbursed for protection,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office, singling out Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait as countries that the US has protected.

Many of those Gulf countries have privately faulted the US for launching a war against Iran without coordinating with them and without a plan for what it would do when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. Those countries have since found themselves bearing the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory strikes.

He speaks about the US “protecting allies… including Israel, including Saudi Arabia, including Qatar, including UAE. We’re protecting all of them, and we’ve done a very effective job.”

Trump is peppered with questions about how long he expects the latest escalation with Iran to drag out, given that he campaigned on avoiding protracted conflicts.

He reiterates that the US is striking Iran hard tonight, but claims that the current round of escalation will end quickly.

Trump says Iran agreed to a deal over the weekend that would have led to deescalation before backing out of the agreement “because they found out there was something in the deal they didn’t like.”

Asked if he thinks that it won’t be possible to reach a settlement with Iran, Trump responds, “I never reached that conclusion. But we’re hitting them very heavy tonight.”

“They’re going to fight for a while… and we’ll see what happens,” he says.