Trump says he's looking at options for Guantanamo Bay prison

WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - President Donald Trump said he was unhappy with the cost of operating the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and that he was exploring options on what to do about it.

"It costs a fortune to operate it and I think it's crazy," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday night (Sept 18).

The president declined to say whether he was considering closing down the prison, which opened shortly after the US went to war in Afghanistan following the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"We're looking at a lot of things," the president said, without elaborating which options he is weighing.

Trump blamed the situation on former President Barack Obama, who he said had failed to deliver on his campaign promise to shut the prison that has long been a target of criticism by human-rights advocates and foreign governments.

"President Obama said Guantanamo would be closed and he never got it done. It's just like President Obama knew about the Russians and he never got that done either, with respect to the 2016 election," Trump said.

"So we're stuck with it."

The president said that a more pressing issue for him is what to do with Islamic State fighters who are from Europe and were captured in the Middle East.

"We're holding in various forms of prison we're holding thousands of people. Many come from Germany, many come from France - most of them come from various European countries and we want them to take them back," Trump added.

"I've given them a deadline. I said take them back."

It cost the US government US$13 million (S$18 million) to detain each of the 40 prisoners at the facility, according to an estimate compiled by the New York Times, citing figures from last fiscal year.