TEHRAN – U.S. President Donald Trump in a tweet on Monday seemed to be questioning his country’s military presence in the Persian Gulf, only days after Iran shot down a $200 million U.S. drone that ventured into its territory.

“China gets 91% of its Oil from the Straight [sic], Japan 62%, & many other countries likewise. So why are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation,” Trump tweeted.

By “the Straight” he was referring to the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

“All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey. We don’t even need to be there in that the U.S. has just become (by far) the largest producer of Energy anywhere in the world!”

On Thursday Iran shot down an American spy drone, which ignored the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ repeated warnings and intruded into the country’s airspace.

The IRGC specified the downed aircraft as a sophisticated Global Hawk drone, saying it was brought down over Iran’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.

The Guards, however, spared a second spy plane carrying 35 people, for which U.S. President Donald Trump thanked Iran.

The downing of the drone came as a heavy blow to the U.S. administration with its “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran. Officials in Washington think that through sanctions they can force Iran into a new deal after the 2015 nuclear pact they ditched last year.

SP/PA