US President Donald Trump has suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz “Trump Strait”, asserting American control of the waterway while fighting with Iran continues in and around it.
“Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT??? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on Wednesday, Ada Derana reported, carrying AFP.
The White House then posted a map of the Gulf with the waterway marked “Trump Strait”. “It’s got a nice ring to it,” the post added.
The claim is contested
Iran maintains that the strait is closed and under its control, Al Jazeera reported. Tehran has effectively shut the chokepoint — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes — for six months, in response to the war launched by the United States and Israel in late February.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre has been reporting attacks on vessels in the strait almost daily. Two Filipino crew members were killed aboard a Saudi supertanker there on Monday night.
Neither report carried a reaction from Iran, Oman or any other government to the renaming suggestion itself.
Not the first
Trump has floated a series of geographical renamings since returning to office, several of which he has gone on to enact. Last week he signed an order renaming Lake Ontario, which borders the United States and Canada, as “Lake America”, amid a trade dispute with Ottawa. He renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” on his first day back in the White House in January 2025, and reverted Denali, North America’s highest peak, to Mount McKinley. Neither Mexico nor Canada has accepted the changes.
He has also attached his name to the Kennedy Center in Washington, a peace institute, a “Trump Gold Card” immigration scheme and a “Trump Rx” drug-sales website. The US Treasury issued US$1 coins bearing his face on Wednesday to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence — notwithstanding federal law barring a living president from appearing on US currency.
The politics underneath
AFP notes the suggestion may serve as a distraction from a war that has pushed up fuel prices for American consumers ahead of November’s midterm elections. Fighting resumed after weeks of calm when US forces struck near the strait on Tuesday, in response to what Trump said were fresh Iranian minelaying efforts. Iran said one strike killed four people at a wedding, called it a war crime, and fired back at US bases in Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq.
Trump has repeatedly pressed a threat to claim sovereignty over the strait, previously posting a map showing it as “new US territory”.
For Sri Lanka, the substance beneath the naming is the closure itself. Fuel is the largest line in the import bill and Brent passed US$96 this week on the renewed fighting.
