President Donald Trump on Friday declared his intention to designate the Strait of Hormuz as a territory of the United States “pretty soon.” This announcement comes as the status of the waterway—a vital global chokepoint through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes—remains locked in a tense military and diplomatic standoff. The declaration arrives at a critical juncture, with a memorandum of understanding signed between the two nations in June set to expire this Sunday.
In the ongoing game of geopolitical brinkmanship, Trump has characterized negotiations with Iran as being “like chess.” His latest military rhetoric follows a consistent pattern observed throughout the conflict, which began on February 28. On many occasions, he has threatened to attack Iran only to pull back at the eleventh hour, yet his latest comments suggest an escalation in his public posturing.
“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 stated during a speech at a police academy in New York. Referring to the existing naval blockade, he went a step further, asserting, “Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”
Legal experts and international observers remain skeptical of these claims. First, sovereignty does not exchange hands over a mere unilateral presidential proclamation. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), coastal-state sovereignty is recognized over territorial waters, but this is strictly limited to 12 nautical miles (22km). Furthermore, the convention notes that all ships enjoy a right of passage that “shall not be impeded.”
At its narrowest point, the strait is only about 21 nautical miles (39km) wide, meaning the territorial seas of Iran and Oman overlap across the passage. Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, emphasized that Trump’s statements are primarily aimed at his domestic base. He noted that the president’s claim is physically and legally impossible, rendering the threat largely performative.
Tehran has responded with sharp defiance, labeling the threats as “nonsense.” The head of the Iranian judiciary condemned the US president as a “criminal” and “feather-headed,” insisting that the waterway remains under Iranian jurisdiction. Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, added, “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.”
The military tension is palpable. For instance, Trump had earlier threatened to send US boots to Iran’s Kharg Island to take over the key Iranian oil export hub in the Gulf. Tehran responded by stating that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would be waiting for them, “with fingers on the trigger.” This atmosphere of hostility has direct economic consequences, as petrol prices in the US have climbed to an average of over $4 a gallon.
US Vice President JD Vance recently stated that the administration’s top priority is controlling these rising fuel costs, with the goal of stopping Iran’s nuclear program now taking a secondary position. Despite US claims of a total blockade, maritime navigation data indicates that some vessels continue to transit the passage, challenging the narrative that the US has absolute control.
Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, noted that the president’s delivery—often accompanied by a chuckle—suggests he may not take the legal feasibility of his own words seriously. “What the US president likes to do is get under the skin of adversaries, and, in this case, it’s Iran,” she explained. Nevertheless, the naval blockade remains a tangible reality, regardless of the rhetoric surrounding territorial claims.
Meanwhile, Iran has been engaged in talks with Oman, the only other coastal nation bordering the strait, to reach a settlement on maritime traffic management. Iranian officials have indicated that the reopening of the waterway is a separate issue, contingent upon Washington adhering to the promises made in the June memorandum of understanding.
This represents a shift in Tehran’s position, as it now seeks specific US concessions for the reopening of the strait—conditions that were originally intended to be part of broader peace negotiations. Iran maintains that the waterway has always been and will remain Iranian, asserting that it will only be opened or closed under Tehran’s command.
As the expiration of the June agreement looms, the international community watches closely to see if the rhetoric will translate into further military action or if it remains another instance of the president’s signature brand of provocative, high-stakes political theater.
In the apparent game of who blinks first – though Trump says negotiation with Iran “is like chess” – the US president’s military rhetoric has also followed a pattern throughout the ongoing war, which began on February 28
Several Iranian officials have sharply reacted to Trump’s remarks.
If he goes ahead with annexation, Fein says, it would “constitute the crime of aggressive war under international law, including the UN Charter”.
Bruce Fein, associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, says Trump is constitutionally powerless to annex on his own.
“A treaty ratified by the Senate or statute is constitutionally required to annex territory, as with the Louisiana Purchase or annexation of Hawaii or Panama Canal or acquisition of Puerto Rico or the Philippines in ending the Spanish-American War.
Natalie Klein, a specialist in international law and associate dean at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, said, “Essentially the only way Trump’s claim could have any plausibility under international law would be if the US was asserting control over the Strait as an occupying power perhaps comparable to the authority the US exercised over Japan immediately after World War II.”
Trump’s war on Iran is also widely unpopular in the US, where the president and his fellow Republicans are seeking to defend their narrow congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.
Barely 35 percent of Americans approve of the war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Several US media publications have reported that Washington is running short on munitions, including the crucial Patriot antimissile interceptor.
Petrol prices have also increased, and are now averaging more than $4 a gallon – a major issue for Americans.
Tehran has also attacked its neighbours in the Gulf, which analysts say are aimed at forcing the regional countries to push Washington into a corner at the negotiating table.
While neither the US nor Iran has ratified UNCLOS, the convention’s rules on international straits are widely regarded as customary law.
It is important to remember, he added, that Trump is a product of US reality TV and is, at the end of the day, a “showman”.
But the statements do show that Trump is determined not to back down from Iran and accept defeat in the months-long war, he added.
Source: Aljazeera
