Trump Wants to Declare Hormuz 'American Territory' | The Palki Sharma Show | India Global Review

August 15, 2026 | Donald Trump has said that he will declare the Strait of Hormuz as American territory after 'defeating' Iran. Tehran has hit back, saying 'tweets' will not change the Hormuz ownership. Where has Trump got this ridiculous idea from? Palki Sharma tells you.

It is such a pity that America has got a draft dodger as its Commander-in-Chief. His draft dodging has made the president clueless. If I am not greatly mistaken, he hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of winning this war with Iran. As always, America is good at starting wars, but not so good at winning them. History shows this to be true. — © Mark Alexander

Why Has US President Donald Trump Threatened to Bomb Oman? | BBC Newscast

August 17, 2026

Trump Threatens to Declare Strait of Hormuz ‘Territory of the United States’

THE GUARDIAN: Seriousness of remark made in New York on Friday, and whether it signaled new policy position, not clear

Screenshot taken from this Guardian article. | Donald Trump at the David S Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, New York, on Friday. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Donald Trump has threatened to declare the strait of Hormuz as “a territory of the United States” as his administration struggles to conclude the war with Iran.

During a speech at a police academy on Long Island, New York, on Friday, the US president said he would “pretty soon” designate the waterway – a crucial chokepoint for global trade, through which about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies typically pass – a US territory.

The comment came as peace talks with Iran remain at an impasse following failed negotiations, with Tehran refusing to reopen the strait, which has been all but closed since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in February.

Almost six months into the war, there is little indication that negotiations will soon yield peace, as Iranian officials continue to defy Trump’s demands. The US has been blockading Iranian shipping and ⁠ports in recent months in an effort to pile economic pressure on Tehran.

“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 on Friday. “Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”

The seriousness of Trump’s remark, and whether it signaled a new policy position for his administration, was not immediately clear. » | Maya Yang | Friday, August 14, 2026

Trump wants it all: Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, Canada, Greenland, the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s rare earth minerals, and all the billions he can filch, pilfer, and steal! This dude works on one simple principle: what mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine also! Trump is a natural born schemer! — © Mark Alexander

Seyed M. Marandi: Iran-Oman Hormuz Deal Almost Reached & the Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan Defence Pact

Aug 9, 2026 | Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiation team.

Why the Iran War Won’t End Soon (w/ Alastair Crooke)

August 9, 2026 | Trump's reckless war on Iran is threatening global economic collapse — as the region breaks out into a matrix of conflagrations, Trump seemingly has no way out.

Iran Issues Tough Demands to Reopen Strait of Hormuz as Deal Still Out of Reach

THE GUARDIAN: Tehran urges US to ‘correct its behaviour’ as UAE says one of its ships targeted by Iranian missile

Screenshot taken from this Guardian article. | Tehran, Iran. An Iranian statement said the US must never threaten the country again. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Iran has issued tough new demands for reopening the strait of Hormuz, while the United Arab Emirates said one of its ships was targeted by an Iranian missile, as a deal to open the strategic waterway remained out of reach on Saturday.

Iran’s politburo-like body known as the supreme national security council said the strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States “corrects its behaviour”, and its state broadcaster published a statement from the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The US must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region. The US must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets. » | Guardian staff and agencies | Saturday, August 8, 2026

This is clearly a humiliation for Trump. So much for MAGA and so much for Trump’s Art of the Deal. In common parlance, Iran is clipping Trump’s wings! And it is putting America in the place where Iran thinks it belongs.

The moral of the story is simple: Be very careful when picking a fight! — © Mark Alexander

ALSO READ THIS NYT ARTICLE:

Iran Issues List of Demands, Complicating Efforts to Reopen Strait: The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the United States met certain conditions. »

À LIRE AUSSI :

Téhéran pose ses conditions à toute réouverture du détroit d'Ormuz : L’Iran exige notamment de Washington qu’il « mette fin définitivement à la guerre et à l’agression » contre lui et ses alliés, et lève le blocus imposé à ses ports. »

LESEN SIE AUCH:

„Der Feind ist gezwungen“: Iran stellt neue Bedingungen für Straße von Hormus: Der Iran hält die Straße von Hormus blockiert. Teheran nennt sieben Bedingungen für die USA. Wie realistisch ist eine baldige Öffnung der Meerenge? »

'Whether Netanyahu Wants It or Not,' War on Lebanon 'Will Have to End,' Marandi Affirms

Mohammad Marandi sets out clearly Iran’s conditions for peace and highlights what Iran’s red lines are before the Iranian government will give the green light for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened.

US Military Launches Strikes against Iran to "Further Degrade" Capabilities | BBC News

July 21, 2026 | The US military says it launched another round of strikes against Iran to "further degrade" its capabilities to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The strikes - the 10th consecutive night of attacks - come after US President Donald Trump vowed to punish Iran for the deaths of US soldiers. In response, Iran said it struck two oil tankers in the waterway, as well as US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, state news agency IRNA reported.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was now fighting a "full-scale war" with the US. Trump earlier said Iran had been hit "very hard" the previous night "in honour" of three US soldiers killed recently - two in Jordan and one in Iraq.

US Central Command (Centcom) said its latest strikes had hit Iranian "military command centres, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defence systems".

Iran War Oil Shock: How World Economy on Brink of Something ‘Even Worse’

July 14, 2026 | President Donald Trump has U-turned on his threat to charge cargo ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz as much as 20% - but the US and Iran have continued trading strikes as Trump has told the US Congress that war has resumed.

So, can the US gain the upper hand? Will more US bombs and bullets really help? And has this whole episode proven that the memorandum of understanding, which was meant to end the conflict, was destined to fail.

In this episode of The Fourcast Indicators, presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Defence and Intelligence Analyst, Mark Urban are joined by former US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, who is now a senior fellow at The Foundation for Defence of Democracies.

Trump ‘Flails’ Over Strait of Hormuz Plan after Fourth Night of Strikes

Jul 15, 2026 | “It looks like someone without really any plan, scrabbling for anything that will stick.”

Trump has renewed his threat to bomb Iran bridges and power plants in an attempt to resolve conversations with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, says Arieh Kovler.


If there really is going to be all this investment by Gulf countries in the US economy, one can only conclude that this will eventually lead to the increasing Islamization of the USA! Trump is such a good dealmaker, such a good strategist. — © Mark Alexander

Why Trump Is Scared: This Is Iran's Massive Leverage over the US

Ben Norton explains that Iran is now so powerful because of this illicit and unnecessary war.

Iran Insists It Controls Strait of Hormuz as It Launches New Strikes

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Iranian military said it had fired at U.S. targets across the Persian Gulf as the two sides engaged in another day of hostilities. President Trump on Sunday denied Iran’s claim to have closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran insisted on Monday that it controlled the Strait of Hormuz — an assertion the United States has denied — as it launched a fresh barrage of strikes aimed at American military assets throughout the Middle East. The new attacks, following dozens more American strikes overnight, extended a cycle of attacks that is unraveling the U.S.-Iran cease-fire.

Shipping through the strait plummeted over the weekend after Iran attacked a Cypriot-flagged container ship on Saturday, setting off an exchange of hostilities that spilled into Monday. Just 14 ships passed through the waterway on Sunday, the lowest level in a month, according to Kpler, a maritime data firm.

The latest Iranian salvos on Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman were aimed at U.S. targets including ammunition depots and radar facilities, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement carried by state media. Authorities in Jordan and Kuwait said they were intercepting incoming fire, and air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, hours after U.S. forces said they had struck dozens of military targets in Iran.

The Guards Corps added in its statement that the Strait of Hormuz would be open to vessel traffic only if the United States ceased its military operations and respected “the sovereignty of states over their own coastal waters.” » | Hari Raj, Eric Schmitt and Jenny Gross | Monday, July 13, 2026

Is this evidence of Trump putting his theories as propounded in The Art of the Deal into operation? — © Mark Alexander

ALSO READ:

How Trump Failed to Secure the Strait of Hormuz in His Iran Deal: President Trump signed an agreement that Iran said gave it control of the waterway — and global energy supplies. Now, Iran’s military is violently asserting authority. »

How the US Blunder in Iran Accelerates Its Decline and Dooms Israel | Andreas Krieg | UNAPOLOGETIC

July 4, 2026 | We sat down with Andreas Krieg for the fourth time on UNAPOLOGETIC, this time in the aftermath of the war on Iran, to ask what it has done to the balance of power across the Middle East. His answer is stark: this is the most fundamental shift in regional order in thirty years, and it has undone the American empire in a way he does not think it can recover from.

We get into why the Gulf no longer believes the United States can protect it, why its bases have become magnets for attack rather than deterrents, and why nobody in the region has a plan B for the order that is now crumbling. Andreas lays out the battle between the Israel lobby and the Gulf lobby that he believes will decide Washington's approach for years to come, the split between Marco Rubio and JD Vance, and why Iran has emerged able to impose its will without ever building a bomb.

We also talk through Iran as a network state, the Strait of Hormuz as a chokepoint, Saudi Arabia's strategic drift, Qatar's network power, Egypt reduced to a beggar state, the violation of Iraqi sovereignty, Syria under Sharaa, and why Andreas argues Israel has become a hammer that sees everything as a nail, isolated and digging itself into a hole it may not climb out of.

UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim.

U.S. Strikes Iran in Retaliation for Attack on Vessel in Strait of Hormuz

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Trump on Friday called Iran’s attack on a container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier a “foolish” act.

The U.S. military said it launched strikes on Iran on Friday in retaliation for an Iranian attack in the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier, hours after President Trump called the Iranian action a “foolish violation” of the fragile cease-fire between the two countries.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement that it had struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites as a “powerful response” to the Iranian attack on Thursday.

The extent of damage from the new U.S. strikes was not immediately clear. A U.S. defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly, described the strikes as a retaliatory measure and not a restart of major combat operations.

The strikes on Friday concluded after about 90 minutes, a U.S. official said, and included strikes by American fighter jets against four Iranian sites along the Strait of Hormuz and on Qeshm Island, a U.S. official said.

Iran’s security forces claimed that in response to the American attacks on Friday, Tehran had struck U.S. Army positions in the region. There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. military of such strikes.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement carried by state media that the U.S. strikes had violated the cease-fire, and warned that if such aggression “is repeated, our response will be more extensive.” » | Helene Cooper, Euan Ward, Jenny Gross and Pranav Baskar | Helene Cooper reported from Washington. | Friday, June 26, 2026

Iran Closes Strait of Hormuz, Accusing US and Israel of Violating Ceasefire Deal | BBC News

Jun 20, 2026 | Iran closes Strait of Hormuz, accusing US and Israel of violating ceasefire deal | BBC News

Iran has said it is closing the Strait of Hormuz and accuses the US and Israel of violating the ceasefire deal, after Israel continued strikes on Lebanon.

The news comes as roughly two dozen people were reportedly killed by Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon, less than 24 hours after a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was announced.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei says his country's attendance at talks in Switzerland will be aimed at "demanding that the other side fulfil its commitments".

US Vice-President JD Vance tells Fox News that the Strait of Hormuz remains fully open, after being asked about reporting in the Wall Street Journal suggesting the Iranian navy were turning away ships.

World Blames Trump as Iran ‘Made a Superpower’ with Strait of Hormuz Control

Jun 10, 2026 | “Looking at the price at the pump, not only in America but globally, all of them are blaming the US.”

The US needs to de-escalate the war at this point in order to keep the ceasefire alive and bring down the price of oil, says retired lieutenant general Russel L. Honoré.


Trump is an ignorant, incompetent president. This is a mess of his own making. — © Mark Alexander

Mohammed bin Salman Rejects Trump's Hormuz Push, Gulf Tensions Rise

Learn more here.

Trump Claims Peace Deal with Iran ‘Largely Negotiated’ with Strait of Hormuz to Open

THE GUARDIAN: President’s claim is tempered by Pakistani PM’s hopes of hosting more talks ‘very soon’, and Iran’s Fars news agency saying strait of Hormuz will remain under Iranian control

Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that a peace deal with Iran “has been largely negotiated”, after calls with a Pakistani mediator, Gulf allies and Israel, potentially paving the way for an end to the war launched by the US and Israel in February.

Trump wrote on his social media platform that “final aspects and details” of a “memorandum of understanding” were still being discussed and “will be announced shortly”, but said the strait of Hormuz would be opened as part of the deal.

“An agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries,” Trump posted.

However, Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the strait of Hormuz would remain under Iranian control, a red line for the US. The news agency reported on Telegram that “the management of the Strait, determining the route, time, method of passage, and issuing permits will continue to be the monopoly and discretion of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. » | José Olivares and Robert Mackey | Sunday, May 24, 2026

More BULLSHIT from the Bullshitter-in-Chief! In any case, the world wouldn’t be in this sorry mess if it hadn’t been for his extremely poor judgment and stupidity! — © Mark Alexander

Iranian Official Warns of Escalation in Strait of Hormuz Standoff

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator, accused the United States of violating the shaky cease-fire, after Iranian forces fired at vessels that the U.S. Navy was guiding through the strait.

A top Iranian official warned on Tuesday of an escalation in the Strait of Hormuz and accused the United States of violating the fragile cease-fire, a day after the U.S. Navy began an initiative to escort commercial ships through the strait, a vital oil shipping waterway.

As the truce appeared to falter, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator in the stumbling peace negotiations, said in a social media post that “a new equation” was emerging in the waterway. He said that American actions had endangered shipping through the strait, which Iran has effectively blockaded since the war began in late February.

“We know well that the continuation of the current situation is unbearable for the United States, while we have not even started yet,” Mr. Ghalibaf said.

The U.S. Navy began escorting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Reports of attacks from Iran in and around the Persian Gulf quickly tested the American actions and the Pakistani-brokered cease-fire that paused the war last month.

The United Arab Emirates said Iran had fired missiles and drones at its territory on Monday, the first time since the cease-fire had come into effect. The U.A.E.’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country “reserves its full and legitimate right to respond” to the attacks.

American forces shot down cruise missiles and drones and destroyed six Iranian speedboats that had threatened the vessels, according to U.S. Central Command. The U.S. military said two commercial ships operating under the U.S. flag had passed through the waterway.

Iran did not officially confirm or deny whether it had resumed attacks. IRIB, Iran’s state-run broadcaster, said that a senior Iranian military official denied the American claim that several Iranian boats had been sunk.

In an interview with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that aired Monday, President Trump declined to say whether the cease-fire was over. “Well, I can’t tell you that,” Mr. Trump said. » | John Yoon | Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Supreme Leader Says Iran Is Planning for Ongoing Control of Strait

The NEW YORK TIMES: Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement that Iran would establish “new legal frameworks” for the Strait of Hormuz. He also said his country would retain its nuclear capabilities.

Screenshot from this NYT article. | Iranians held photos of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, at a government-organized march in Tehran on Wednesday. | Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
Iran’s supreme leader issued a rare statement on Thursday saying that the United States had no place in the future of the Persian Gulf region and making clear that his country planned to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway going forward.

In the defiant message, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also vowed that Iran would retain its nuclear capabilities. The lengthy statement from the Iranian leader, who has not been seen in public since he was named to the top post nearly two months ago, was shared by his office.

It touched on two of the thorniest issues stalling talks on permanently ending the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began in late February and paused when a cease-fire was reached this month. Those positions put Iran at odds with the United States, which has sought to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and insisted that it cannot restrict use of the Strait of Hormuz to vessels of its choosing.

“By the will and power of God, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America,” said the statement, which was released on Iran’s National Day of the Persian Gulf, an annual commemoration of a 1622 military victory over Portugal in the Strait of Hormuz. » | Leo Sands | Thursday, April 30, 2026