US President Donald Trump says he wants the Strait of Hormuz to be an American territory. Photo / Getty Images
US President Donald Trump says he would declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory of the United States” despite having repeatedly failed to reopen it.
Trump said today he would annex the waterway, before suggesting he already controlled it anyway.
Iranian officials accused Trump of indulging in “fanciful delusions”.
During
a speech in New York, Trump said: “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.
“Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”
But Trump also nodded to the economic upheaval unleashed after Iran effectively choked off the strait following the US and Israeli bombing on February 28.
He said Americans would have to pay “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” as the cost of ensuring a “very evil country” could not develop a nuclear weapon.
Traffic through the strait has slowed to a trickle since the start of the war, and Trump’s attempts to reopen it – with military force, economic pressure and diplomacy – have failed.
Just nine commercial vessels headed through the waterway on Thursday, according to data firm Kpler, which tracks shipping, compared to pre-war averages of 130 to 140 ships a day.
Securing the strait, which is bordered by Iran and Oman, would almost certainly require boots on the ground, something Trump has so far been unwilling to contemplate.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran would not be intimidated by the President’s rhetoric.
He said: “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.”
Directly addressing Trump, he said: “Once and for all, accept the reality: up to this point, you have suffered strategic and heavy defeats; the Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian and will remain Iranian.”
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