Iran has vehemently refuted U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that the Strait of Hormuz could be in the United States’ control someday, saying that the strategic waterway will always be held by Iran.
The deputy foreign minister of Iran, Kazem Gharibabadi, commented that “Iran controls, controls and will always control the Strait of Hormuz”. He insisted that the waterway can’t be captured by political statements, military or by the President’s orders.
Gharibabadi also emphasized that the strait could only be opened or closed on Tehran’s instructions after the war broke out in the Middle East, which Tehran had effectively shut down. He claimed that Trump had refused to accept Tehran’s announcement of the defeat of the US and Iran would proceed to implement the blockade.
Trump’s words came after he declared at a political rally in New York earlier this year that the US “finish[es] defeating Iran” and would then proclaim the Strait of Hormuz as a US possession. He also argued against the economic arguments against the war, alleging American betters could pay a bit more for gas to stop Iran from working toward nuclear arms.
Reportedly, Trump’s comment of making the strait “US territory” was made in jest by a White House official.
Earlier, Trump had said that the United States had “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz. He called the US Navy blockade a ‘wall of steel’, and claimed Iran has no power to prevent it.
It has increasingly come to the fore because of the geopolitical significance of the Strait of Hormuz, which will be one of the world’s most vital energy arteries and would probably not be in a state to withstand a disruption.