President Donald Trump on Friday stated he would designate the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the USA “fairly quickly” because the standing of the waterway, a world chokepoint by way of which a fifth of world oil and gasoline passes, stays below a navy and diplomatic impasse.
Iran has fired again, dubbing Trump’s threats as “nonsense” because the memorandum of understanding signed between the 2 in June expires on Sunday.
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Tehran has blocked the passage to leverage it as a world economic system kill swap, whereas Washington has maintained a navy naval blockade in opposition to Iran’s ports, choking its economic system additional.
Within the obvious sport of who blinks first – although Trump says negotiation with Iran “is like chess” – the US president’s navy rhetoric has additionally adopted a sample all through the continued battle, which started on February 28. On many events, he has threatened to assault Iran solely to tug again on the eleventh hour.
So, can the US really make the Strait of Hormuz its territory? And what does that even imply?
What has Trump stated?
“After we end defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, fairly quickly I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the USA,” Trump stated throughout a speech at a police academy in New York.
Referring to the naval blockade, Trump went a step additional to recommend that the Strait of Hormuz is already a US territory. “Basically, that’s what it’s,” he added.
“We’ve the blockade. No ships get by way of except we wish them to,” he stated.
Iran maintains that it controls the waterway — and regardless of the US claims, some vessels have transited the passage regardless of the blockade, maritime navigation knowledge reveals.
“It’s clear the US president, with a chuckle as he stated that, even himself, isn’t taking this notably significantly,” stated Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC.
“These are the territorial waters of Iran and Oman. However what the US president likes to do is get below the pores and skin of adversaries, and, on this case, it’s Iran,” she stated.
“What we must always level out, although, is what the US president isn’t backing down on is the very fact that there’s a naval blockade by the USA in impact within the Strait of Hormuz, and that’s ongoing.
![Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has blamed the US for a reutrn to violence in the Strait of Hormuz, and said new paths will be required to reach a lasting peace. [File: Elke Scholiers/Getty Images]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/getty_6a7fd502e4-1786762498.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514&quality=80)
How has Iran reacted to it?
A number of Iranian officers have sharply reacted to Trump’s remarks. The top of the judiciary got here out with livid rhetoric, calling the US president legal and feather-headed, his remarks “nonsense” and saying the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy international minister, additionally responded, saying, “The Strait of Hormuz can’t be seized by tweet, nor by plane service, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.”
“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and can stay Iranian; this strait will solely be closed and opened below Iran’s command, and so long as you don’t settle for the fact of defeat and stop your fanciful delusions, Iran will proceed to implement the blockade,” he added.
In the meantime, Iran has been holding talks with Oman, the one different coastal nation within the strait, to succeed in a settlement on the administration of maritime visitors within the strait. Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi, in feedback carried by the Iranian College students’ Information Company, stated negotiations between Tehran and Muscat “might attain a conclusion quickly”.
The reopening of the waterway, nonetheless, is a separate problem, Araghchi stated, the place Washington has to stick to guarantees made within the June memorandum of understanding, together with elimination of the naval blockade and sanctions on Iran.
That’s the new Iranian place on the continued battle, the place Tehran is now searching for these US concessions for mere reopening of the waterway, which have been initially situations for ending the battle.
Is Trump’s declare even sensible?
First, sovereignty doesn’t trade palms over a mere unilateral presidential proclamation.
For example, Trump had earlier threatened to ship US boots to Iran’s Kharg Island to take over the important thing Iranian oil export hub within the Gulf. Tehran then responded by saying that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can be ready for them, “with fingers on the set off”. Trump had beforehand additionally threatened to take over Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Bruce Fein, affiliate deputy legal professional normal below President Ronald Reagan, says Trump is constitutionally powerless to annex on his personal.
“A treaty ratified by the Senate or statute is constitutionally required to annex territory, as with the Louisiana Buy or annexation of Hawaii or Panama Canal or acquisition of Puerto Rico or the Philippines in ending the Spanish-American Warfare.
If he goes forward with annexation, Fein says, it could “represent the crime of aggressive battle below worldwide legislation, together with the UN Constitution”.
Natalie Klein, a specialist in worldwide legislation and affiliate dean on the College of New South Wales, Sydney, stated, “Basically the one manner Trump’s declare might have any plausibility below worldwide legislation can be if the US was asserting management over the Strait as an occupying energy maybe akin to the authority the US exercised over Japan instantly after World Warfare II.”
“However in that situation, the US would wish to have navy management over Iran or not less than its coastal areas.”
Trump’s battle on Iran can be extensively unpopular within the US, the place the president and his fellow Republicans are searching for to defend their slender congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections. Barely 35 p.c of People approve of the battle, based on a Reuters/Ipsos ballot.
A number of US media publications have reported that Washington is working quick on munitions, together with the essential Patriot antimissile interceptor. Petrol costs have additionally elevated, and are actually averaging greater than $4 a gallon – a serious problem for People.
Final week, US Vice President JD Vance stated the Trump administration’s high precedence within the battle was to manage rising petrol costs, whereas stopping Iran’s supposed race to a nuclear weapon now comes second.
Tehran has additionally attacked its neighbours within the Gulf, which analysts say are geared toward forcing the regional nations to push Washington right into a nook on the negotiating desk.
Even Iran doesn’t get pleasure from unfettered sovereignty over the strait as an entire, below worldwide legal guidelines, together with the UN Conference on the Legislation of the Sea (UNCLOS), however just some coastal websites close to its personal borders.
The UNCLOS recognises coastal-state sovereignty over territorial waters, however limits that territorial sea to 12 nautical miles (22km), and notes that ships get pleasure from a proper of passage that “shall not be impeded”.
The Strait of Hormuz is in worldwide waters, sandwiched between the coasts of Iran and Oman. At its narrowest level, the strait is simply about 21 nautical miles (39km) extensive — and the 2 nations’ 12-nautical mile territorial seas overlap throughout it.
Whereas neither the US nor Iran has ratified UNCLOS, the conference’s guidelines on worldwide straits are extensively thought to be customary legislation.
Paul Musgrave, an affiliate professor of presidency at Georgetown College in Qatar, stated Trump often makes such statements primarily to talk to a US viewers, particularly his assist base.
It is very important keep in mind, he added, that Trump is a product of US actuality TV and is, on the finish of the day, a “showman”.
“This can be a man who speaks large. It’s important to take him significantly in some instances however not actually,” Musgrave cautioned.
Trump can’t be taken significantly, particularly on this case as a result of making the strait US territory is bodily and legally unattainable, he stated. However the statements do present that Trump is decided to not again down from Iran and settle for defeat within the months-long battle, he added.
