Trump calls Strait of Hormuz ‘US territory’

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has described the Strait of Hormuz as “US territory” and claimed that the United States is currently controlling the vital waterway.

According to a report by The Guardian, Trump told an election rally in South Carolina that the US had imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz and that no commercial vessel could pass through the waterway without American permission.

Trump said he was not yet sure whether the United States had won the war against Iran, but insisted that he currently considered the Strait of Hormuz to be US territory.

The US president had also threatened last week to declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory. He previously shared a map on social media showing the waterway labelled as “new US territory.”

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi rejected Trump’s claim, describing it as an “illusion.”

According to the US Central Command, 68 commercial vessels have so far been diverted during the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and Oman and carries around one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies, making it one of the most strategically important waterways in the global energy market.