Trump said he may declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory

US President Donald Trump said that Washington may declare the Strait of Hormuz the territory of the United States. He made this statement on August 14 during a speech in Garden City, New York.

Speaking about the confrontation with Iran, Trump said that after Tehran's defeat, the United States may take such a step "fairly soon". The president did not explain what legal mechanism Washington could use and whether any official documents are expected to be adopted.

Therefore, Trump's statement remains a political declaration, not a decision to change the international legal status of the strait. The Strait of Hormuz is located between Iran and Oman and is one of the key maritime routes for global energy trade.

This is not the first statement by the American president about the intention to establish actual control over the strategic waterway. In July, Trump said that the US may eventually "control everything" in the Strait of Hormuz.

Later, the White House officially stated that American forces consider themselves the controlling party in the strait. Trump himself claimed that the current naval blockade allows the US to determine which vessels can pass through the area and which cannot.

In July, the president also proposed making the US "the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz" and initially spoke about the possibility of charging a fee for ensuring the safety of navigation. Later, Washington abandoned the idea of a mandatory fee from passing vessels.

The new rhetoric came amid the ongoing confrontation between the US and Iran. The security of navigation through Hormuz remains one of the central issues of the conflict, since disruptions on this route can affect oil and gas supplies and world energy prices.

At the same time, the statement about the possible declaration of the strait as American territory was not accompanied by any White House clarification regarding the timing, procedure or international legal grounds for such a step.

Based on materials from: MarketWatch, White House