Trump Says He Will Declare the Strait of Hormuz US Territory After War With Iran
US President Donald Trump announced on August 14 that he intends to declare the Strait of Hormuz a "territory" of the United States once the war with Iran concludes. Speaking to supporters in New York, Trump said: "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." Al Jazeera
Trump was in New York to support Republican candidates for the 2026 US midterm elections. The declaration, if pursued, would be an unprecedented assertion of US sovereignty over a narrow waterway that has never been under American jurisdiction and through which roughly 20 percent of the global oil supply formerly transited. Iran restricted traffic through the strait after the onset of hostilities. Al Jazeera
The United States and Israel launched a series of strikes against Iran on February 28, starting a war that has now entered its sixth month. Control over the Strait of Hormuz has become a central sticking point in ceasefire negotiations. In June, Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding to halt military operations, with Iran required to make "best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels." Both parties subsequently accused each other of violating the MOU, and fighting resumed by the end of June. Al Jazeera
A brief ceasefire had been brokered earlier. In April, Iran agreed to a ceasefire and to reopen the strait as the Trump administration negotiated a broader peace agreement, according to the White House. That arrangement proved short-lived. The administration directed a US naval blockade of the strait in April to counter Iranian aggression and, in its framing, restore safe passage. White House, April 2026
The current situation in the strait is one of overlapping blockades and reciprocal strikes. Iranian forces continue to target commercial vessels transiting the waterway, with Tehran claiming that part of the strait falls within its territorial waters and remains under its control. The United States has established its own blockade and has fired on a cargo vessel it accused of attempting to reach Iranian ports. Trump described the US blockade as "a wall of steel." Al Jazeera
Iranian officials responded to Trump's territory declaration with defiance. Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, pushed back on social media. Iran has previously warned that the strait is a "red line" and stated it can strike the waterway from anywhere on its territory. Al Jazeera; Reuters, July 2026
Trump has not ruled out the use of US ground forces, including to seize the strait. In July, he stated that the US has total naval control of the strait, unmatched intelligence and strike readiness, and a firm strategy. As recently as August 5, Trump said a deal to reopen the strait was imminent, though US officials maintained they would never agree to Iran controlling the waterway. White House, July 2026; Reuters, August 2026
The December 2025 US National Security Strategy identified the Strait of Hormuz as a waterway that should remain open, alongside the Red Sea. That document framed safe navigation as a strategic interest but did not contemplate US sovereignty over the strait. White House, December 2025
The declaration of a foreign waterway as US territory has no precedent in American history and no clear basis in international law. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), coastal states exercise sovereignty over their territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles from their baselines, but straits used for international navigation are subject to transit passage regimes that guarantee the right of all states to transit. Think of it as a highway that runs through multiple countries' front yards: the homeowners control their yards, but they cannot legally shut the road to through traffic. The United States is not a party to UNCLOS but has historically treated its provisions as reflecting customary international law. Any unilateral claim of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz would place Washington in direct conflict with both Iran and Oman, the two littoral states whose territorial waters comprise the strait, and would likely draw objections from every major maritime power dependent on Gulf shipping routes.
Domestically, Trump faces significant public opposition to the war. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in late July found that 60 percent of US voters oppose US military action against Iran. Al Jazeera
The broader context here is that the territory declaration, framed as a postwar measure, inserts a new and potentially destabilizing demand into ceasefire negotiations that were already struggling. Both the US and Iranian positions on the strait have hardened over the course of the conflict, from a June MOU that committed Iran to facilitate safe passage, to a situation where each side maintains military operations in or around the waterway and lays claim to controlling it. Whether Trump's announcement reflects a genuine policy intention or a rhetorical escalation designed for domestic political consumption is unclear. What is evident is that the gap between the two sides on the status of the strait has widened, not narrowed, as the war has dragged on.
