Iran says Hormuz ‘will remain Iranian’ after Trump threats

TEHRAN

This US Navy handout photograph shows a fighter jet taking off from aircraft carrier USS Abrams on Aug. 4. (AFP)

Iran on Aug. 15 rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory after defeating Tehran.

Trump told a rally at a police academy on Long Island a day earlier that he would “pretty soon” declare the waterway “a territory of the United States.”

He also claimed that Washington’s naval blockade gave it control over traffic through the strait. A White House official later said the territory remark had been made in jest.

“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian and will remain Iranian,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X, adding that Tehran alone would decide whether the route was opened or closed.

The strait is bordered by Iran and Oman and is an international shipping route through which about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil usually passes.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had not decided whether to resume talks with Washington.

Messages relayed through Qatar and Pakistan did not constitute negotiations, he told Shahrara News.

Araghchi said separate discussions with Oman concerned a possible shipping route through the strait, while Washington would have to meet Tehran’s conditions before traffic could resume.

Two oil tankers operated by the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned ADNOC were attacked by drones while transiting the strait, the company said.

No injuries were reported, and the UAE blamed Iran for the attacks. Tehran did not immediately respond.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would announce new financial measures against Iran next week, threatening economic isolation “like the world has never seen before.”

The USS Abraham Lincoln is also set to be relieved by the USS George Washington after more than 250 days at sea. Trump dismissed concerns about conditions aboard the carrier, saying its deployment had been “not nearly long enough,” while Navy officials denied reports of a mental health crisis.