India, March 13 -- President Donald Trump may be insisting that the US can, "if needed to", escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz amid its war with Iran, but a top military general has now said the key waterway is a "tactically complex environment" - thus fueling the lack of clarity on American capability and intentions.

General Dan Caine of the US Air Force, who is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Friday acknowledged it may not be possible to escort traffic safely through the strategic link through which a large part of the Persian and Arab oil supplies move to the rest of the world.

"It's a tactically complex environment. Before, I think, we want to take anything through there at scale, we want to make sure that we do the...