The Trump administration’s chaos has caused another algae problem —that happens to be 7,000 miles away from their other one.
President Donald Trump has grown obsessed over his disastrous $14 million renovations he ordered to the Reflecting Pool, as he has baselessly blamed the peeling paint on the bottom, and algae blooms have infested the waters on nonexistent nefarious actors. The president has since pledged to drain and renovate the pool once again.
But now, his war in Iran has put a new algae problem in his hands.
Ships that have been stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran effectively closed after Trump launched war on the country, are now covered with sea gunk, including Barnacles, mussels, clams, and algae. But the problem has more logistical concerns than cosmetic, maritime experts told CNN, as the boats cannot get moving until they are cleaned.
In order to get the ships ready to sail again, whenever a peace deal is struck between the U.S. and Iran, all of the crustaceans and bivalves will need to be cleaned by large crews of scuba divers, known as “bottom cleaners.”
It will likely take several days to clean all of the boats, as the Strait has been closed since Feb. 28, when Trump launched his unauthorized war.
“Four months?” Derek Hamm of the Florida-based Obsessive Compulsive Divers told CNN. “Man. That’s plenty of time for a lot of gross stuff to accumulate.”
Oil supertankers are more than 1,000 feet long, and about 150 feet wide, meaning there is 150,000 square feet of bottom to clean. About five to six divers are typically deployed to a boat, and will need to spend about four to five hours hand-scraping off the gunk, CNN reported.
“The work is straightforward and not complicated, but those ships are just way too big for individual divers,” said Brian McCauley, owner of McCauley Mooring and Diving.
On top of that, there are about 600 ships stuck in the Strait, leaving the divers with hours upon hours of work.
The “bottom cleaners” also need to be careful not to accidentally scrape the ship’s paint or its special coating, which helps prevent the buildup of sea particles, as damaged coating can lead to even more problems for the ships.
The White House did not respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
In addition to the Middle Eastern algae being the administration’s algae-related headache this week, the accumulation of the sea gunk also marks yet another self-inflicted problem caused by Trump’s war with Iran.
Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused gas and oil prices to skyrocket domestically, and the U.S. has lost between $2.3 billion and $2.8 billion in military equipment throughout the conflict.
Last week, Trump announced an outline of a “deal” with Iran, but it has received bipartisan blowback, as the terms of the deal are largely the same as they were before the war started.
The peace agreement would reopen the crucial passageway to toll-free commercial transit for 60 days, but the Strait was already open before the war began. The U.S. will also lift sanctions on Iran, freeing up $300 billion for them.
