US unveils footage of landmark sea drone attack on Iran

The United States is about to reintroduce the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and President Trump has declared America will be charging a 20% fee as tension with Iran escalates. Let's go to Washington and our correspondent Jonathan Kersley is across all the details this morning. Jono, hello to you. So there's new reports of more attacks in the Strait. That's right. An Iranian news agency, Tasnim, which is linked to the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, a short time ago declaring that there had been violations by ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States had been carrying out what it says was essentially safety patrols in this area, trying to get ships in and out of this area. Also releasing vision of one of the attacks it carried out yesterday on a port. It's believed to be the first time that this type of sea drone, if you like, has been used in combat targeting an Iranian maritime facility. President Trump earlier today announced that the U.S. in his eyes was going to be taking control of the Strait of Hormuz. That blockade is going to be coming back into effect round about this time tomorrow. In fact, it'll be exactly this time tomorrow that U.S. Central Command says it will be reintroducing that blockade. We've already seen oil prices climb today. Brent crude above 80 U.S. dollars a barrel, far up from what it was around about 73, 74 U.S. dollars a barrel last week. A spark, a stark rise of rentum at 9% or so today as there's once again renewed concerns on the markets about the impact of this blockade and also of the broader conflict itself. President Trump has spoken with Fox News earlier today about his idea of what he wants to do with this Strait. He's mentioned trying to take in a 20% fee, which he believes would be just part of the cost the United States would be incurring by having this blockade in place in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran, for its part, has also responded, insisting the United States will never be the so-called guardian of the Strait. That is Iran's job. Let's hear now from President Trump and then from a member of the Iran Revolutionary Guard. We hit them very hard last night. Every time they send a drone, we hit them very hard. But we had a deal. What nobody knows, we had a deal. It was a done deal. And then they broke it. They always break it. We've had 10 deals with these people. And so we're just going to hit them very hard. And we're going to keep the Strait and we'll probably run it. We'll become the guardian of the Strait. Maybe we'll call it the guardian angel of the Strait. And we should be reimbursed for that. When we do that, we're going to be reimbursed because the other nations are very wealthy. They're on our side. We will, under no circumstances, allow the United States to interfere in the management of the Strait of Hormuz. The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will deal forcefully with any disruption to the passage of commercial vessels and oil tankers by the invading and pirate U.S. military outside the route designated by Iran. Peter, I want to bring you something that Iran's Foreign Minister, Saeed Abbas Arrachi, has posted online a short time ago, saying POTUS is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service. Iran has always been the guardian of the Strait and will remain so forever. 20% is, of course, too much. We will be fair. So Iran insisting that it will charge tolls too. And that had been its plan beyond this 60-day deadline. Beyond the issues between the United States and Iran, Pete, there are more concerns about the Iranian-backed Houthis who have been carrying out attacks inside Saudi Arabia, targeting an international airport and now warning airlines not to use Saudi airspace, a very stark warning. The attacks by the Houthis coming in the wake of what they believed was a Saudi strike on an attack inside Yemen itself on one of the main airports inside Yemen. So this concern over the conflict zone is spreading far just beyond what the United States and Iran are carrying out right now. For his part, President Trump, while he might be fired up about war, but he's also been revving up about a Grand Prix to be hosted here in Washington, D.C. as part of America's 250 celebrations. But once again, it was the issue of Iran he was addressing in part. We have the strongest military in the world. You saw that with Venezuela. You're seeing that right now with Iran for 47 years, 47 years in a row, they were pushing people around. They're not pushing us around. We're pushing them around. And Pete, interestingly, President Trump has put in, I suppose, a bit of a long reach, if you like. A short time ago, posting to Truth Social, he'll be addressing the nation at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. That is about three days or so away from now. It'll be around about 11 a.m. Australian Eastern Time, exactly what will be discussed in that. Well, that remains to be seen. There are reports through MS Now here in the United States that it may well have something to do with election interference from a foreign adversary in the 2020 election. 2020 election. OK, got it. Jonathan Kersley, thank you.