Boats float near the coast of Bab el-Mandeb, Yemen, on April 2, 2026. Reuters
President Donald Trump announced on July 23 that any further damage Iran caused to ships or cargo would be paid for with Iranian money controlled by the United States.
The president’s statement came after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the Senate on July 21 that the war with Iran has cost about $37.5 billion. Shortly after Trump’s statement on Thursday, the U.S. military continued its attacks against Iran, launching its 13th consecutive night of strikes against the regime’s military targets.
“Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday night.
“These damages may be very substantial but, nevertheless, this is the fair and equitable thing to do.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment and did not receive a response before publication time.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a social media post Thursday night that U.S. forces started launching strikes against Iranian military targets at 6:45 p.m. ET.
CENTCOM said the July 23 strikes were launched to “hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping.”
Shortly after CENTCOM’s announcement, Iranian state media reported explosions near Andimeshk and Omidiyeh and along the strait in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm.
Earlier in the day, Trump said that he was considering a “massive attack” against Iran. He described the potential military action as “bigger than ever before.”
Trump also said Thursday that the United States would hold Iran responsible for attacks carried out by the Houthis, which he described as a “surrogate” and “proxy” of Iran. His warning came after the Houthis attacked two Saudi Arabian vessels.
The president warned that Iran and the Houthis would face “major military punishment” if the Iran-aligned terrorist group in Yemen carried out additional attacks.
On July 20, the Houthis announced a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, threatening a blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key waterway that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean. About 12 percent of the world’s trade passes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Trump said on July 21 that the United States would “take care of business” if the Houthis followed through with their threat to launch a blockade of the strait.
“If something like that happens, we take care of it,” he said. “We’ve done that with the Houthis before, and we haven’t heard from them in a while since we did what we did originally.”
During the July 21 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hegseth urged the Senate to approve an $86.7 billion supplemental spending request from the Trump administration. The request included $67.1 billion for the Department of War.
Hegseth told the committee that the supplemental spending request would help sustain military readiness to “meet this year’s new demands” and would speed up the replacement of critical capabilities the military has used in contingencies.
“We face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption,” he said.
Ryan Morgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
