Iran fires back at Trump's threat to declare Hormuz a US territory

Iran has responded to US President Donald Trump's claim that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory after defeating Iran. The Strait of Hormuz has been a crucial energy waterway that Iran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war in late February. According to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, "The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian."

Iranian officials assert that the strait will only be closed and opened under Iran's command. In response to Trump's comments, Iran called on the US to accept defeat. Trump has described Iran as "very evil" and warned Americans to brace for continued high fuel prices due to the war.

Declaring the strait a US territory would require deploying troops indefinitely, which contradicts Trump's previous vow to keep the war brief. Traffic in the waterway has significantly decreased, with levels at less than a fifth of pre-war levels, and a genuinely safe shipping route does not exist in the region, according to a maritime intelligence group.

Brief written by urgent.news from Al-Monitor, The Korea Times, RTE News, Free Press Journal, Egypt Independent — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.