As tensions continue in the Middle East following the fallout of peace deal between the United States (US) and Iran, President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) shared an image of the Strait of Hormuz, describing the critical waterway as an American territory.
“News U.S. Territory. Strait of Hormuz,” Trump, who is a two-time US President, said while sharing the image on his Truth Social account.
The 80-year-old Republican leader, while speaking at an event on Long Island on August 14, had declared that Hormuz would soon be declared a US territory. Few days later on August 18, he had shared the same image asserting his claims about the Strait.
The Strait of Hormuz has been a contentious issue between the US and Iran, with the Trump administration saying Tehran must reopen the waterway through which around a fifth of crude oil transits. However, Iran has maintained that Hormuz will remain under its control.
It has also criticised Trump over his claims on Hormuz, warning of severe consequences.ย
“The gap between America’s inability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and its claim to own it is greater than the 7,000-mile distance between Washington and the Strait itself. Welcome to the post-American order in the Persian Gulf,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei said in a post on X (previously Twitter) earlier this week.
Iran has also struck a deal with Oman over a safe route for vessels transiting through Hormuz. However, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has said that a complete security will only be restored once the US lifts the sanctions and the naval blockade.
“Keep in mind that insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz was imposed on us, on the region and on the entire world, and the reason for it was the illegal military action of the United States,” Baghaei had said.
In response, Trump has threatened Oman against striking a deal with Iran and warned of military action against Muscat.”If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh** out of them,” he told Fox News.
Oman has not responded to Trump’s threat, though.
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