US President Donald Trump said he would “pretty soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz American territory and told Americans to accept higher fuel prices while the war with Iran continues, drawing an immediate rebuff from Tehran that the waterway will stay closed.
“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 told a law enforcement audience in Garden City, New York, on Friday. Both Al Jazeera and AP reported he delivered the line with a chuckle and appeared to be joking.
Trump defended the war’s cost at the pump, saying paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” was worth preventing “a very evil country” from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The average US price of a gallon of petrol was about $4.08 on Friday, according to the American Automobile Association — up 29% from $3.16 a year earlier. “I’ll never apologise,” he said of the war and its effect on oil prices. “I did the right thing.” He called the US naval blockade “unstoppable” and “a wall of steel”.
Tehran rejects the claim
Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, replied on X early on Saturday: “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech.” Iran was “neither afraid of threats nor intimidated by a show of force”, he added, and the strait “will be opened and closed only under Iran’s command” until Washington accepts “the reality of defeat”.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no decision had been taken on resuming talks with Washington, the Iranian Student News Agency reported on Saturday. Mediators Qatar and Pakistan were exchanging messages with Tehran, but that fell short of negotiations.
Shipping and prices
Traffic remains close to a standstill — two vessels transited on Friday, against more than 130 a day before the war began on February 28. Emirati state agency WAM reported another vessel was attacked on Friday, a day after two ADNOC ships were struck.
Crude rose about $1 a barrel on Friday, leaving Brent and West Texas Intermediate on course for weekly gains of 6.0% and 5.4%. Roughly one in five barrels of the world’s oil exports passed through the strait before the war, and the disruption has pushed up freight and energy costs for importing economies including Sri Lanka.
Trump also dismissed concerns over the USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment — nearly nine months at sea — calling it “not nearly long enough”. Acting navy secretary Hung Cao said the carrier “will return home soon”.
