They are making threats about controlling the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like. That's not going to be allowed to happen.

President Trump has a number of options available to him if he so chooses to prevent that from happening.

These people are lunatics. They are insane.

They are religious zealots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future.

There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous leaders in Iran have not spoken to us before.

Some of the things they're willing to do, some of the things they're saying they're willing to do. Obviously, they have to go do it.

We're going to test that proposition very strongly because we always prefer to settle things through negotiation and diplomacy.

This is not our war and we are not going to be dragged into it.

Iran responded positively to Trump’s threats and reopened the Strait of Hormuz — though only for two Chinese oil tankers!

I am forced to know things that no longer let me sleep.

For what could happen in the coming weeks, for the effects it will have on the economy and on our daily lives.

We did not support this war, and no one asked for our opinion.

The length of wars does not depend on the power of the strongest, but on the resistance of the weakest.

Iran is larger than Ukraine, has more people, and thousands of years of history.

If this war develops into a major regional conflict, it could place an even greater burden on Germany and Europe, as strongly as we recently experienced during the COVID pandemic or at the beginning of the Ukraine War.

Over time, the U.S. is going to retake control of the straits, and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through U.S. escorts or a multinational escort.