US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed on Monday that the United States will keep the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime traffic amid increasing tensions with Iran, which has repeatedly rejected US overtures to come to the negotiating table.
"We are gonna keep it open," Pompeo said during a panel at the Economic Club of Washington. "We are going to build up a maritime security plan. Countries from all across the world who have a vested interest in keeping those waterways open will participate."
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Since the United States withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, reimposing sanctions and enacting new financial penalties against Iran, the regime has attacked oil tankers from numerous countries in the strategic waterway and shot down a US drone.
US President Donald Trump called off retaliatory strikes against Iran for that action, saying that such a response was "not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone."
Trump confirmed a few weeks ago that the USS Boxer, a US Navy ship, "immediately destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told CBS News on Tuesday that the ship may have shot down two drones.
The United States has sought the help of other nations, including Germany, to protect the Strait of Hormuz.
A source in Germany's Foreign Ministry told Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, that the United States "recently presented its concept for a maritime surveillance mission … to a number of allies, including Germany, and asked for contributions."
"The German government has taken note of this, but not promised to make any contribution," said the source.
Asked whether the US would intervene if another country's ship was seized in the strait, Pompeo said that when it came to the case of the British tanker seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Washington was working with London "to find a solution to, A, right that injustice, second, preventing that from happening again, so to establish a deterrence."
Pompeo was also asked if there were any direct or indirect contacts with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif during his recent trip to New York to attend a UN conference, to which he responded, "No talks."
Pompeo noted that US economic sanctions on Iran were part of a broader Middle East policy and that the Trump administration had taken "a 180 degree turn" from the policies adopted under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, which Pompeo said afforded "opportunities to Iran".
Pompeo avoided directly answering question on whether he was concerned by the possibility Israel might carry out an attack on Iran.
Netanyahu has said Israel will do whatever it takes to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, officials in Oman have been in contact with "all parties" to restore calm in the area, said Omani Foreign Minister Yousef Bin Alawi on Sunday, following talks with Iranian officials in Tehran. "We have a responsibility when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz."
The United States, Great Britain and other allies will meet on Wednesday in Bahrain to discuss forming a coalition, with the United Kingdom possibly in a leading position, to protect the Persian Gulf, Britain's Sky News reported.
