US President Donald Trump has stressed the importance of the Japan-US alliance in a statement marking the 80th anniversary of the battle on the Japanese island of Ioto, also known as Iwojima.



The White House released Trump's proclamation on Wednesday, which called the alliance "the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific."



US forces began to land on the Pacific island on February 19, 1945, toward the end of World War Two. Fierce fighting that raged for more than a month left about 21,900 people dead on the Japanese side and some 6,800 on the US side.



Trump said, "American liberty was secured, in part, by young men who stormed the black sand shores of Iwo Jima and defeated the Japanese Imperial Army eight decades ago."



He went on, "In spite of a brutal war, the United States-Japan Alliance represents the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific."