President Donald Trump speaks at the Nassau County Police Academy David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, N.Y., on Aug. 14, 2026. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times
President Donald Trump announced on Friday his intention to declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory, introducing a new position regarding the strategically vital waterway at the center of the ongoing conflict with Iran.
Speaking at a rally in Long Island, New York, Trump said the declaration would come after U.S. forces have defeated the Iranian regime.
“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,” Trump said.
His remarks came two days after he said the United States has “total control” over the strait.
“I think we will keep it,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform in all capital letters.
“Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it.”
At Friday’s rally, Trump also defended the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic regime, stating that Washington “cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
“It’s the number one state sponsor of terror in the world,” Trump said, noting that Americans are paying “a tiny little bit more for [their] gasoline” so that “a very evil country” doesn’t obtain a nuclear weapon.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
