Iran Fires Back at Trump's Threat to Declare Hormuz US Territory
Iran has rejected US President Donald Trump's claim that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory. In response to Trump's statement, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the strait 'has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian.'
The Strait of Hormuz has been a crucial energy waterway, carrying around a fifth of the world's oil and LNG exports. The dispute over control of the strait has driven up prices for US voters, creating a political headache for Trump as November's midterm elections near.
Iran wants to control the strait and charge tolls, powers it did not exercise before the war and ones that the US fiercely opposes. Tehran signalled last week that it had agreed with Oman on a route for ships to transit the strait and were finalising arrangements to jointly manage the waterway.
Trump initially made his claim about declaring the Strait of Hormuz a US territory at a political rally in New York state, but later said he was joking. However, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have been accused by Abu Dhabi's foreign ministry of engaging in 'acts of piracy' in the strait.