‘Joint Venture’: Trump Reveals Plans to Partner With Iran to Manage Strait of Hormuz to Jon Karl

President Donald Trump said the U.S. would consider a “joint venture” with the Iranian regime to manage and secure traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in a striking signal of cooperation between the two adversaries just hours after a newly announced ceasefire.

ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl told Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump revealed the proposal during a brief interview on Wednesday morning.

Karl had asked whether he would permit Tehran to impose tolls on vessels passing through the strategically critical waterway, through which a significant share of the world’s oil supply flows.

“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it – also securing it from lots of other people,” Trump said to the journalist.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” the president added.

The comments come a day after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire, raising expectations of rapid diplomatic movement. He told Karl that formal peace talks were expected to begin on Friday and suggested they would progress quickly.

Despite floating the prospect of economic coordination in Hormuz, Trump drew a firm line on Iran’s nuclear program.

“There won’t be any enrichment,” he said, reiterating a long-standing point of contention in negotiations. Iran has repeatedly insisted it will not relinquish its right to enrichment.

Trump also signalled that U.S. military forces would remain in the region and revealed that China had played a key role in engaging with Iran.

Details of how a joint U.S.-Iran arrangement would function, including whether tolls would be levied and how revenues or security responsibilities would be shared, remain to be established.

Watch above via ABC.

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