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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has delivered a blunt message to Europe over the Strait of Hormuz, saying European allies should “get in a boat” and take a greater role in securing the strategic waterway.

Hegseth argued that Europe and Asia depend on the Strait of Hormuz more than the United States and said the era of allies relying on American protection without greater contributions was over. He called the crisis “much more their fight than ours.”

The comments came as the U.S. expanded its maritime blockade of Iranian ports and pressed allies to contribute to efforts surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. The remarks have also highlighted tensions between Washington and European allies over the war, shipping security and responsibility for reopening the vital energy route.

Watch the full report for Hegseth’s message to Europe, the Strait of Hormuz crisis, the U.S. blockade of Iran, European concerns and the growing dispute over who should secure the strategic waterway.

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Transcript
00:00We are not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do.
00:06And might want to start doing less talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe when you get in a
00:13boat.
00:27Well, good morning.
00:28And unlike the endless wars of the past that dragged on for years and for decades with little to show
00:35for it, Operation Epic Fury has delivered a decisive military result in just weeks.
00:42Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, as the president has pointed out, all took years, decades.
00:50Vague missions, shifting sands, little to show for it.
00:54But Operation Epic Fury has been laser focused from the very start, as I've said to all of you.
01:01Clear mission objectives and ultimately Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
01:06It's a bold and dangerous mission, a gift to the world, historic, courtesy of a bold and historic president.
01:18That mission continues today, in this new phase, as Iran has an important choice, a chance to make a deal,
01:25a good deal, a wise deal.
01:30As part of that effort, the United States has imposed an ironclad blockade that grows more powerful by the day.
01:37From the Gulf of Oman to the open oceans, our Navy is enforcing this blockade without hesitation or apology.
01:46Now, as usual, there's a lot of false information out there.
01:50I'll say this.
01:51Every ship, every ship that the U.S. believes meets our criteria, either Iranian ships or to and from Iranian
02:00ports, has been turned around.
02:02As of this morning, 34 total.
02:06Non-Iranian vessels are allowed to transit, and many have, including overnight.
02:13Not only is the blockade growing, in fact, a second aircraft carrier will join the blockade in just a few
02:21days, but this growing blockade is also gone global.
02:26Just this week, we seized two Iranian Dark Fleet ships in the Indo-Pacific region that had left Iranian ports
02:34before the blockade went into effect.
02:37They thought they'd made it out just in time.
02:39They did not.
02:41We seized their sanctioned ships, and we will seize more.
02:46Our blockade is growing and going global.
02:51America's military is unmatched, projecting power, denying passage to adversaries, and protecting our interest at the time and place of
03:00our choosing.
03:01No one sails from the Strait of Hormuz to anywhere in the world without the permission of the United States
03:07Navy.
03:08To the regime in Tehran, the blockade is tightening by the hour.
03:12We are in control.
03:14Nothing in.
03:15Nothing out.
03:18Iran's battered military, the IRGC specifically, has been reduced to a gang of pirates with a flag.
03:26They cloak their aggression in slogans, but the world now sees them for what they are, criminals on the high
03:32seas.
03:33They don't control anything.
03:36They're acting like pirates, acting like terrorists.
03:39They're the ones who lay indiscriminate minds, who shoot at random ships, who killed 45,000 of their own people,
03:50innocent protesters in the course of weeks.
03:53Their own people.
03:55They are the bad actors.
03:58The vessels that the Iranians seized in recent days, a couple of them, they're not American ships.
04:03They're not Israeli ships.
04:06They're just random ships that drove, where they drove their little speedboats up to and shot at those ships with
04:13AK-47s.
04:14Anyone with a speedboat, a gun, and the wrong intentions can do that.
04:20They know that we, the United States of America, control the flow of global shipping, and we know that they
04:27know.
04:28Their real navy is at the bottom of the Arabian Gulf.
04:33It's worth saying again, for 47 years, Iran has been at war with America, killing our citizens, our soldiers, and
04:42our allies, while previous administrations looked the other way.
04:46The real endless war is the war that Iran has waged on us for 47 years.
04:53President Trump is the only president with the guts and moral clarity to finally do something about it.
04:59I see it every day behind closed doors.
05:03President Trump's fortitude is unshakable, and his mission is crystal clear.
05:08President Trump said it again yesterday.
05:11We have all the time in the world, and we're not anxious for a deal.
05:17And I hear him say it every day in private as well.
05:22Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely, as we said previously, choose wisely at the
05:28negotiating table.
05:29All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways, or instead they can watch
05:36their regime's fragile economic state collapse under the unrelenting pressure of American power.
05:41A blockade as long as it takes, whatever President Trump decides.
05:49Because the bottom line remains the bottom line.
05:53Iran will never get a nuclear bomb.
05:54The choice is theirs, but with this blockade, the clock is not on their side.
06:01Moreover, President Trump has authorized the United States Navy to destroy any Iranian fast boats that attempt to put mines
06:09in the water or disrupt passage through the Strait of Hormuz to shoot and kill.
06:14Our commanders have clear rules of engagement.
06:17If Iran is putting mines in the water or otherwise threatening American commercial shipping or American forces, we will shoot
06:24to destroy.
06:25No hesitation.
06:26Just like the drug boats in the Caribbean.
06:30It's also worth saying this should not be America's fight alone.
06:36We barely use the Strait of Hormuz as a country.
06:40Our energy doesn't flow through there.
06:42And we have plenty of energy.
06:45Just look at the new global Congo line headed to Texas.
06:50A beautiful picture.
06:52Europe and Asia have benefited from our protection for decades.
06:57But the time for free riding is over.
07:01America and the free world deserve allies who are capable, who are loyal,
07:06and who understand that being an ally is not a one-way street.
07:10It's a two-way street.
07:12We are not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do
07:19and might want to start doing less talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe and get in a boat.
07:27This is much more their fight than ours.
07:31On this core mission, America's will is unshakable.
07:34Our capabilities unmatched.
07:36Our blockade is only growing and going global.
07:45Iran has a historic chance to make a serious deal, and the ball is in their court.
07:54Either way, the War Department stands ready for what comes next, locked and loaded.
08:01May God continue to bless our warriors each and every day, and on each and every mission.
08:12Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
08:17Download the One India app now.
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