International

Former general urges Trump to call Xi over Iran, Strait of Hormuz

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by Sarah Davis - 04/11/26 3:50 PM ET

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by Sarah Davis - 04/11/26 3:50 PM ET

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Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane urged President Trump to take action to break Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.

In a Friday interview on the “Cats & Cosby” radio show, Keane told hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby that the U.S. should stop Iran’s oil-carrying ships from reaching their destinations in places like China, Turkey, Pakistan and India.

“The president should call [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] and tell him, ‘This is what I’m going to do, I need you to call the Iranians and tell them that they have to give up control of the Strait of Hormuz or I have to do this. This is not something I wanna do, but something I’m going to do,’” Keane said.

The retired general said Tehran could respond to this move with attacks on U.S. targets and energy infrastructure in the region, as they have previously done, or they could “stalemate us.”

“The president has all this economic pressure on him and this political pressure, which they believe is the reason why he went through a ceasefire to start combat operations,” Keane said.

Iran has exerted control over the strait during the conflict, effectively rendering the trading passage closed during their counterstrikes in the region. After Trump announced a temporary ceasefire, Tehran introduced new tolls on oil-carrying vessels traveling through the strait.

The waterway is critical to global energy markets, as around a fifth of the world’s oil consumption flows through the strait on a daily basis.

Vessels have restarted travel through the passage following the announcement of the temporary ceasefire. However, these new fees for transporting oil and mines laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps along the strait continue to create barriers for ships navigating the critical waterway.

Keane said that the U.S. should “forcibly open up” the strait if Iran opposes their advances, saying this would be “very, very doable.” He noted that he had spoken with Trump himself, and the president knows “what he’s getting into” when it comes to Iran.

“At some point, we are going to open the Strait of Hormuz,” Keane said. “We’re still going to do negotiations to see what the Iranians really have to offer. Is there something real there, or is this fabrication so they can just delay, delay and delay what’s happening and put off returning to combat operations? That is the pulse of where we are.”

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