Trump Says He Will Declare the Strait of Hormuz US Territory, With No Legal Path Outlined

President Trump told a crowd at the Nassau County Police Academy in Garden City, New York, on Friday that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory. He offered no legal mechanism for how that would work.

"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 said, according to The Guardian and confirmed by Al Jazeera, The Independent, and NOTUS. "Essentially, that's what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to."

The strait sits between Iran and Oman. Roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil supply normally moves through it, per The Guardian. It has been effectively closed since the US and Israel went to war with Iran in late February, now stretching into its sixth month.

No legal path exists

NOTUS pointed out the obvious problem: Iran has claimed control over the strait since the 1979 revolution, and before this war it operated under standard international maritime transit rules, with more than 100 ships passing daily. Trump didn't cite a treaty, a purchase agreement, or any legal process. He compared it, in spirit, to the Panama Canal, but NOTUS noted the US acquired the canal through the 1903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty, not through military conquest, and ceded it back to Panama in 1999.

Iran isn't playing along. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X that Tehran won't be intimidated and that the strait will be opened or closed "under Iran's authority," per The Guardian. Iran has said for months it won't reopen the strait unless the US corrects its behavior, compensates Iran for war damage, lifts sanctions, and unconditionally releases frozen Iranian assets.

A shaky ceasefire and rising prices

The war has driven fuel costs up sharply. GasBuddy data cited by The Daily Beast put the national average for regular gas at $4.07 a gallon Friday, the highest August price on record, with diesel at $5.41. Trump didn't deny the price hikes.

"For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember, you're doing it so that a very evil country cannot have—a country, really it's the No. 1 state sponsor of terror in the world—we don't want them to have a nuclear weapon," Trump said, adding, "I'll never apologize. I did the right thing."

A monthlong ceasefire between the US and Iran is set to expire Monday. Asia Times reported a senior White House official told Politico the situation is "static," with no indication Iran is willing to return to the table. The US and Iran had signed a memorandum of understanding in June requiring Iran to make "best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels," but Al Jazeera reported both sides accused each other of violating it, and fighting resumed by month's end.

Concerns about US forces in the region

The Independent reported the USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed more than 250 days without a port call in 200, a record for consecutive days at sea. Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth citing reports of water contamination, plumbing failures, deteriorating mental health, and deck safety concerns aboard the carrier. The Daily Beast reported that sailors have reportedly attempted to go overboard amid the conditions.

Asked Friday whether family members were worried about the deployment, Trump said, "No, they're not." Asked whether the deployment had run too long, he said, "No, no, no. Not nearly long enough."

A genuinely open question

Whether Trump's territorial claim reflects an actual policy shift or is rhetorical bluster aimed at a domestic political crowd is not clear from his remarks. The Guardian explicitly noted the seriousness of the comment "was not immediately clear." No administration official has laid out a legal framework, and Iran, Oman, and the broader international shipping community that relies on the strait have given no indication they'd recognize such a declaration.

What is measurable: gas prices at a five-year August high, a warship crew nearing 200 days without port, and a ceasefire deadline arriving Monday with no sign either side is ready to make a deal.