CENTCOM chief visits Strait of Hormuz amid ‘milestone’ of crude oil exports

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at former president Barack Obama for talking badly about the war in Iran.

By JNS

Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, visited the Strait of Hormuz on Oct. 25, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

The visit came as American forces “reach the milestone of assisting Gulf partners in exporting more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil since summer,” the military said.

“We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Gulf partners and the shipping industry,” the CENTCOM commander stated.

“This visit underscores our strong commitment to continued freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Cooper observed the area from within a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook, CENTCOM said.

“Momentum has continued to build in recent months since American forces successfully cleared the strait’s international shipping lanes of sea mines laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the American military said.

“Today, primary transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz remain free and clear of Iranian sea mines thanks to incredible efforts by our people,” Cooper stated.

“We remain intensely focused on keeping commercial traffic flowing as we work with our teammates in the U.S. interagency, Gulf Cooperation Council, and shipping industry.”

Trump: Obama’s JCPOA helped Iran ‘buy missiles all over the place’

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at former president Barack Obama on Sunday following a speech the latter delivered the previous day in Cleveland, Ohio, ahead of the midterm elections.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that Obama signed with the Iranian regime in 2015 “may have been the worst and dumbest deal I’ve ever seen,” Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning” program.

“Obama gave the Islamic Republic $1.7 billion in cash,” Trump continued, trying to “buy his way out of it and they used it to try and create nuclear weapons, and they bought missiles all over the place.”

After saying that the U.S. military under his command delivered heavy blows to Iran during “Operation Epic Fury” earlier this year, he said that the only thing left for him to decide was “do I make a deal or do I finish them off?”

Speaking at the Ohio rally, Obama criticized Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran.

The original rationale was to force Tehran to “give up their nuclear program,” Obama said.

“Now the thing was Iran didn’t have nuclear weapons because I had put a deal in place that everybody acknowledged kept them from getting nukes. And I didn’t have to fire a missile to do it. I just had to engage in diplomacy. He pulled out of it and started this war,” he continued.

Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the JCPOA in 2018, during his first term in office.

The former president said that seven months later, the conflict in the Gulf region remains unresolved and energy prices have surged due to the fighting in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. forces on Feb. 28 launched a joint military campaign with the Israel Defense Forces against Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile program, and arms-manufacturing factories, among a list of other regime targets.