Trump says Strait of Hormuz to be made a US territory

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he would “finish defeating” Iran and “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory.

Trump has repeatedly said that the key energy waterway, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war, is under US control — although the Islamic republic denies that.

“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York State.

An unnamed White House official later said that Trump was joking, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi yesterday wrote on X that the “Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian.”

“This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command,” Gharibabadi said.

Trump, together with Israel, launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28 with Tehran retaliating by establishing de facto control over much of the Strait of Hormuz, a passageway also vital for commodity shipping.

The US is locked in a stalemate with Iran over the strait, with Iran denying access to much of the civilian shipping and the US Navy mounting a blockade of Iranian ports in an attempt to cripple its economy.

“We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” Trump told the rally.

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