Trump tells CBS News he’s not ready “quite yet” to abandon bid to force Iran to reopen Strait of Hormuz

CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang called President Trump on Tuesday morning to ask for clarity about his social media post suggesting he could abandon efforts to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr. Trump reiterated his frustration that other countries had not sent military assets to join the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, but said he wasn’t ready to pull American forces out of the fight “quite yet.”

“At some point I will, not quite yet. But countries have to come in and take care of it. Iran has been decimated, but they’re going to have to come in and do their own work,” Mr. Trump told Jiang.

Mr. Trump also reiterated his claim that, despite ongoing Iranian strikes on ships and Persian Gulf nations’ infrastructure, “there’s no real threat” in the Strait of Hormuz.

“I’ll be there, but if they’re having a hard time getting oil, let them come and take it like they’re supposed to. Let them come up and take it. They didn’t want to give a hand to anybody. NATO is terrible, and they’re all terrible. So if they want oil, come up and grab it. There’s no real threat, there’s no substantial threat because the country [Iran] has been decimated,” Mr. Trump said. “Let them come up and take it. It’s about time they did something for themselves.”