Trump threatens to make the Strait of Hormuz a US territory: Can he?

US president has yet another outlandish threat for Iran, with no end to war in sight. President Donald Trump on Friday said he would designate the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States “pretty soon” as the status of the waterway, a global chokepoint through which a fifth of global oil and gas passes, remains under a military and diplomatic deadlock. Iran has fired back, dubbing Trump’s threats as “nonsense” as the memorandum of understanding signed between the two in June expires on Sunday. Tehran has blocked the passage to leverage it as a global economy kill switch, while Washington has maintained a military naval blockade against Iran’s ports, choking its economy further. In the apparent game of who blinks first – though Trump says negotiation with Iran “is like chess” – the US president’s military rhetoric has also followed a pattern throughout the ongoing war, which began on February 28.

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Scoop News DeskUs · Published Sunday, August 16, 2026 at 11:14 AM UTCUpdated Sunday, August 16, 2026 at 7:19 PM UTC

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Barely 35 percent of Americans approve of the war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Iran maintains that it controls the waterway — and despite the US claims, some vessels have transited the passage despite the blockade, maritime navigation data shows. “It’s clear the US president, with a chuckle as he said that, even himself, is not taking this particularly seriously,” said Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC. “These are the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.

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