Trump cites a Washington Post article that refers to Syria as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz

(CNN) - US President Donald Trump cited an article by The Washington Post, in which it pointed out that Syria “presents itself as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz,” amid the American war on Iran, and the latter’s claim of closing the vital waterway in allegations that Washington denies, stressing that the strait is open and under American control.

The link to the newspaper article was published by Trump in a post on his page on the Truth Social platform, saying with a comment: “This is great, President Donald Trump, Syria is presenting itself as an alternative option to the Strait of Hormuz.”

For his part, the American ambassador to Turkey and the US administration’s envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, re-published Trump’s post on his page on the X platform (formerly Twitter), saying with a comment: “Thank you, Syria.”

CNN Arabic contacted the Syrian authorities to obtain a comment.

US Vice President J.D. Vance said on Thursday: “We are the only country in the world capable of ensuring control over the Strait of Hormuz, as you heard the president say. The Iranians do not want any barrel of oil to exit through the Strait of Hormuz,” in statements that come a day after Trump said that the recent US strikes went beyond targeting Iranian radar systems, in an attempt to prevent Tehran from tracking ships crossing the strategic waterway.

It is noteworthy that the US military accompanied 40 commercial ships carrying 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, in the largest number of ships accompanied by the United States during the war, coinciding with Iran and the United States exchanging a new round of strikes on Tuesday, according to two American officials familiar with the operations who spoke to CNN.