US President Donald Trump says he will “soon” declare the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz a US territory after what he described as the defeat of Iran, escalating tensions over control of the key global energy route. Iran has rejected the claim, insisting that the waterway remains under its authority.
US President Donald Trump speaks about the conflict in Iran in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP)
President Donald Trump said Friday 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 — an assertion the Islamic republic denies.
“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.
“It’s true,” he added.
An unnamed White House official later clarified that Trump was joking, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi fired back Saturday in a post on X, stressing 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,” he added.
A file photo of a vessel around the Strait of Hormuz
Trump, together with Israel, launched a war against Iran on February 28, with Tehran retaliating by establishing de facto control over much of the Strait of Hormuz, a passageway also vital for commodity shipping.
The United States remains 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 said to a cheering crowd of supporters and police.
