US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory.
When the president of the world's largest military power casually tosses out a phrase about annexing an international strait through which a fifth of global oil passes, the world holds its breath — is this another campaign stunt or the beginning of a new geopolitical reality? Donald Trump, speaking to his supporters in Garden City, promised to declare the Strait of Hormuz "US territory" immediately after defeating Iran.
Legally, the strait falls under the jurisdiction of Iran and Oman, and Washington has no rights to it. Yet Trump, it seems, does not consider international law an obstacle: he has already twice deployed a naval blockade and now claims that "no ship passes through the strait unless we want it to." The question is how seriously to take this statement — and whether the world is ready for one of the planet's most strategically vital waterways to be redrawn at the whim of one man.
"After we finish crushing Iran, which is now suffering a devastating defeat, pretty soon I will declare the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States," Trump said during a rally at the police academy in Garden City, New York. He added that the US is already blockading the strait and "no ship passes through it unless we want it to." Trump also urged Americans to accept temporarily higher fuel prices, calling it the price of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
"So if you have to pay a little more for gasoline, just remember: you're doing it to keep this very evil country from getting nuclear weapons," he said. In Iran, Trump's statements have already been dismissed. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X that the strait cannot be "seized by a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an order or a campaign speech." Iran's Gulf and Strait of Hormuz Authority also stated that regardless of whom the strait "belongs to," reality will not change: it will remain blocked until Iran's conditions are met.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most strategically important maritime chokepoints. Before the conflict began, about 20% of global oil exports and liquefied natural gas passed through it. Since 28 February 2026, when the US and Israel began striking Iran, shipping through the strait has been severely disrupted. According to analytics firm Kpler, over 166 days of war, 3,371 vessels transited the strait — about 20% of pre war traffic. Oil prices have approached $90 per barrel, and US petrol costs around $4 per gallon. In April, the US and Iran agreed to a temporary ceasefire mediated by Pakistan, and on 17 June signed a memorandum of understanding, launching talks towards a final agreement.
However, negotiations later stalled over disagreements on security guarantees and freedom of navigation. From 8 to 24 July, the two sides exchanged new strikes. Trump's statement about his intention to declare the strait US territory is the latest escalatory move in this standoff — and it remains unclear whether it signals a shift in official policy or is merely a rhetorical gesture.
As CCTV+ reports, Trump's statement on the Strait of Hormuz came amid rising regional tensions and stalled US Iran talks, and the international community now awaits an answer to the key question: is this rhetoric or a real threat to the international order?
