Donald Trump: Strait of Hormuz will be declared US territory following Iran’s defeat
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory, following a Truth Social post on Wednesday in which he said of the waterway, “I think we will keep it.”
“Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump told a crowd at a Garden City, New York, event honoring police.
Trump said the declaration would come “after we [the US] finish defeating Iran,” which he described as being “very badly defeated.”
He described the US naval blockade in the strait as “unstoppable” and a “wall of steel,” saying, “No ships get through unless we want them to.”
Trump added that he “built [up]” the US military, which he said he used “a little more than I wanted to, frankly, but that’s okay.”
“We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he emphasized. “Do we agree? Can’t let them.”
The US president described Iran as a “very evil country” and the “number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world.”
“Remember that when you have to pay a little bit more [for gasoline],” Trump added.
Trump: Operation Midnight Hammer prevented Iranian nuclear weapons
Trump credited the US military’s Operation Midnight Hammer for preventing Tehran from acquiring such weapons.
“If we didn’t hit them, you would have had a nuclear weapon,” he said, noting it as an outcome that would have been a “very sad day for this country and the entire world.”
Trump’s comments came a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would impose measures on Tehran that have “never been seen” as soon as next week.
Iran responds, says the regime does not fear threats
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi responded to Trump’s comments in an X/Twitter post later on Friday, saying that the Strait of Hormuz “cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.”
“Iran neither fears threats nor cowers before displays of power,” Gharibabadi added.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian news outlet Shahrara News that while Iran has decided not to resume talks with the US, separate talks with Oman were focused on defining a sea route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Araghchi reiterated previous assertions from Tehran that the US would have to meet specific conditions for shipping to resume through the waterway.
He added that messages being exchanged with Washington via Qatar and Pakistan do not amount to negotiations.
Reuters and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.