Military newspaper notices bitter Trump ordering allies to 'get your own oil'

Sgt. Jerry W. Reese II, left, and Master Sgt. Jose N. Santiago, both from the 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, read Stars and Stripes at a U.S. Army aviation base camp near An-Najaf, Iraq, in April 2003. (Stars & Stripes)

The federally-funded Stars & Stripes newspaper — produced for U.S. servicemembers — appears to have noticed President Donald Trump desperately begging US allies to finish his Iran war for him.

Trump posted on social media Tuesday that U.S. allies who have stopped receiving fuel via the Strait of Hormuz thanks to Trump’s unrequested and unexpected attack on the nation of Iran should gather up their armed forces and “just take it.”

Stars & Stripes reports the statement is “underscoring [the president’s] rising frustrations over Iran’s continued chokehold on the vital maritime shipping corridor.”

The newspaper noted Trump on his social media site “criticiz[ing] allied countries, including the United Kingdom, for what he sees as insufficient participation in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran as it enters its fifth week,” saying nations hurting from the oil shortage resulting from his unsolicited attack should “buy from the U.S.” or send their own forces to the strait, where Iran has been attacking merchant vessels since the war began on Feb. 28.

Stripes was among many legitimate periodicals barred from the Pentagon by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who called it and other “dishonest” media hostile actors who “will stop at nothing” to undermine claims of “progress” in Iran, while trying to “amplify every cost and call into question every step.”

Hegseth previously slammed Stars & Stripes — again, a paper serving active military members and their families — as “woke,” and is actively working to seize editorial control.

But on Tuesday, the periodical made Hegseth look like a scolding child when it reported him claiming on that “there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well. … Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.”

The paper also pointed out that “oil prices around the globe have surged in the last month as tankers idle near the strait,” with brent crude hovering around $108 per barrel on Tuesday, up from roughly $72 prior to the war — while also citing a Wall Street Journal report claiming Trump is ready to drop and run from his self-made Iran war “even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed.”

Disclosure: AlterNet Editor & Publisher Roxanne Cooper worked for Stars & Stripes from 2000-2004.

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