Donald Trump says he will declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory

The US President Donald Trump wants to declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory after defeating Iran.

He said this on August 14 at an event in Nassau County, New York, CNN reports.

"We have a blockade in place. No ship is going through unless we want it to," Trump noted.

He added that he would “never apologize” for the war in Iran. He said the increase in gasoline prices was worth it because it helped prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"When you pay a little more for your gas, just remember that youʼre doing it to keep a very criminal country — a country that is essentially the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world — from getting nuclear weapons. So remember that when you have to pay a little more," Trump said.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he had not yet decided whether to resume talks with the US. He said mediators Qatar and Pakistan had exchanged messages, but that this interaction did not constitute negotiations.

And his deputy, Kazem Garibabadi, responded to Trumpʼs statement that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory.

"The Strait of Hormuz cannot be captured by a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an executive order, or a campaign speech. Iran is not afraid of threats or a show of force," Garibabadi said.

What preceded

On June 18, the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding committing to a 60-day ceasefire. But on July 8, the sides exchanged blows again, with Iran striking ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the US striking targets on Iranian territory.

Then US President Donald Trump declared that the memorandum of understanding was no longer in effect. Already on July 10, he reported that Iran had asked to continue peace talks. According to him, the US agreed, but emphasized that the truce was over.

On July 24, Trump announced the suspension of strikes on Iranian targets. The WSJ wrote that this may be due to a shortage of American air defense missiles. Before that, the United States had been striking Iran daily for almost two weeks, and Tehran said it was suspending operations in response because its strategy consisted only of “mirror actions”.

On July 27, Trump told Axios that Washington and Tehran were in “very deep talks”. At the same time, he warned that if diplomacy did not work, the United States would again resort to harsh military action. On the night of July 30, after a pause of almost a week, the US military launched a series of strikes on Iran.

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