Donald Trump has threatened to make the Strait of Hormuz a "territory of the United States" if he defeats Iran, despite dwindling hopes of victory in the conflict. He said he would "pretty soon" claim the waterway for America, and told Americans to accept paying a "tiny little bit more" for petrol because of his Iran war.
Trump's claim and rationale
Refusing to apologise for starting the war, Trump said: "What we're doing is a great service for the world, not only for ourselves … and we're really doing a great job." Speaking at a police academy in suburban Long Island, New York, he 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."
He added: "Essentially, that's what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to."
Strategic waterway and impact
The strait is a vital waterway for trade, through which a huge proportion of global oil supplies travel. Transit through the strait has all but ground to a halt since Trump began his campaign of bombardment against Iran in February. Just two vessels passed through the strait on Friday - neither of them carrying crude oil.
It's unclear whether Trump meant his vow to claim the strait as a serious policy announcement, or if he was just engaging in one of his trademark "weaves" - an unplanned detour from prepared remarks.
Iran's response
In response, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on X: "This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran's command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade."
With just 81 days until midterm elections in which Republicans are expected to do badly, Trump visited the police academy to highlight positive crime statistics. But facing an unprecedented slump in approval ratings - even by his low standards - and six months into a deeply unpopular war in Iran with no end in sight, he returned to familiar attack lines against "radical left Democrats" and his cancer-stricken nemesis "Sleepy Joe Biden".
