Full story
Trump’s Hormuz “territory” vow
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory” of the United States after defeating Iran, telling a rally in Garden City, in the New York City area’s Long Island suburbs that “I will declare Hormuz to be U.S. territory.”
“I will declare Hormuz to be U.S. territory”
Trump linked the move to the blockade, saying “We have the blockade; ships don’t pass if we don’t allow it,” while the ABC report said the strait has had no traffic since the start of the war with Iran in late February.
The ABC report also said gasoline prices in the United States remain high, with the average above four dollars per gallon, and it quoted Trump arguing Americans are paying “a little more for gas” so “a wicked country does not have the nuclear weapon.”
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi rejected the idea, saying “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be taken via a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an order, or an electoral speech,” and adding that “The strait will only be opened or closed by order of Iran.”
Iran rejects, US escalates
In response to Trump’s claim of U.S. control, Iran’s Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Unified Operations Command, said in a video that “No ship can travel safely through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s permission and supervision.”
Reuters’ account of the dispute also quoted Trump’s assertion that “The United States has full control of the Strait of Hormuz,” and it said Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in mid-July after renewed U.S. bombardments against southern Iranian territory.
The ABC report said Trump offered no details about the territorial declaration, while it noted that his remarks came as Republicans were contesting decisive seats in the upcoming November midterm elections.
Al Jazeera reported that Trump framed the blockade as a “wall of steel,” quoting him saying “The blockade is unstoppable. It’s a wall of steel,” and it added that Iran and the U.S. have floated tolls on commercial traffic while Iran insisted the strait remains under its control.
Sailors, sanctions, and markets
Beyond the sovereignty fight, the ABC News & Headlines report said Trump downplayed the toll on American sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, rejecting claims that family members were worried and saying the more than 260-day deployment was “not nearly long enough.”
“not nearly long enough”
That same report said the navy reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz and that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. would apply measures that have “never been seen” on Iran as soon as next week.
Al-Monitor framed the administration’s war priorities as shifting toward fuel costs, quoting Vice President JD Vance saying “That is goal number one -- keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country,” and it said Bessent threatened economic isolation “like the world has never seen before.”
In the background of the Hormuz dispute, Al Jazeera also reported that since February 28 the U.S. and Israel have been at war with Iran, and it said Iran restricted traffic through the strait that formerly served as an artery for roughly 20 percent of the global oil supply.
