Iran fires back at Trump’s threat to declare Hormuz a U.S. territory

Iran on Saturday (August 15, 2026) fired again at U.S. President Donald Trump‘s declare that he would quickly declare the Strait of Hormuz a part of U.S. territory, saying the essential vitality waterway it has blockaded “will stay Iranian”.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly mentioned the strait, which Tehran successfully closed in the beginning of the West Asia battle in late February, is underneath U.S. management an assertion the Islamic Republic denies.

“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and can stay Iranian,” Iranian Deputy Overseas Minister Kazem Gharibabadi mentioned on X.

“This strait will solely be closed and opened underneath Iran’s command.”

Mr. Trump instructed a political rally in New York state on Friday (August 14) that after the U.S. defeats Iran, “fairly quickly I will be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of america”.

“It is true,” he added. An unnamed White Home official later clarified that Mr. Trump was joking, the Wall Avenue Journal reported.

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Final week, a prime Iranian official laid out a laundry checklist of situations for reopening the strait, together with an finish to the “battle and aggression in opposition to Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq”.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr additionally demanded the tip of crippling sanctions, the discharge of frozen belongings and compensation for wartime harm.

Ongoing assaults

As diplomacy stalls between the decades-long foes, assaults within the Hormuz strait have continued, highlighting the continued dangers to regional delivery.

United Arab Emirates’ state-owned oil big ADNOC mentioned Saturday (August 15) one in all its vessels got here underneath assault the night time earlier than.

On Friday (August 14) the Gulf nation blamed Iran for different assaults on two vessels linked to ADNOC as they handed via the strait.

Such assaults led to the collapse of an April ceasefire between america and Iran.

As Iran throttles site visitors in Hormuz, its Houthi allies in Yemen have additionally declared a parallel maritime blockade on Saudi ports within the Crimson Sea, the oil-exporting big’s solely different maritime route.

A June deal between Washington and Tehran — meant to function a jumping-off level for negotiations on a everlasting settlement — had mentioned Iran and Oman would hash out future preparations for the strait in dialogue with different Gulf international locations and “in keeping with the relevant worldwide regulation”.

Earlier than the battle, Hormuz carried round a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG exports, and costs have repeatedly surged because the dispute over the waterway erupted, piling financial and political stress on Washington.

Iran needs to manage the strait and cost tolls, powers it didn’t train earlier than the battle and a improvement that the U.S. would fiercely oppose.

The closure of Hormuz has pushed up costs for American voters, making a political headache for Mr. Trump as November’s midterm elections close to.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance mentioned this week that Washington’s prime precedence within the Iran battle was holding vitality costs low for Individuals, with stopping Tehran from buying a nuclear weapon rating second.

Tehran signalled final week that it had agreed with Oman a route for ships to transit the strait and have been finalising preparations to collectively handle the waterway.

The U.S. has imposed its personal retaliatory blockade of Iranian ports in an try and cripple its financial system.

“Now we have the blockade. No ships get via until we wish them to,” Mr. Trump mentioned to a cheering crowd of supporters on Friday (August 14).