Iran on Saturday rejected President Trump’s assertion that he could declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory of the United States,” saying the opening and closure of the key waterway will remain up to Iran’s control, The Hill reports.
In a post on the social platform X, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the U.S. has no authority to claim the strait, which has become a major flashpoint in the nearly six-month conflict.
“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian,” he wrote in a post translated from Persian to English. “This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command.”
He added that as long as the U.S. does “not accept the reality of defeat” and stop indulging in its “delusions,” Iran will continue to enforce its blockade of the crucial waterway carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Trump floated the idea of taking control of the strait during a speech at a police academy in New York on Friday, despite the fact that it is currently under the shared jurisdiction of Iran and Oman.
“Pretty soon, I will be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he said.
Trump, who has twice deployed a U.S. naval blockade of the strait during the course of the conflict, has repeatedly reiterated this claim.
“We have control over it. Nobody else. Only us. Our Navy is unbelievable, and things are going great for our country,” he told reporters Tuesday.
Several observers have pushed back on Trump’s claim to the strait. Former U.S. diplomat Richard Haass insisted that no country is in control of the Strait of Hormuz, while Fox News host Bret Baier said that traffic through the waterway has slowed down “to a trickle” despite Trump’s claim.
About 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas passed through the strait prior to the start of the war on Feb. 28, 2026.
Traffic has dropped sharply since Iran moved to close the waterway after the U.S. and Israel launched its first attacks, causing global energy prices to surge.
Only six vessels traveled through the strait last weekend, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler, a fraction of the roughly 130 to 140 ships that typically crossed each day before the war.
