Trump 'l Will Soon Declare Hormuz as a part of US Territory'

President Donald Trump said Friday he would "finish defeating" Iran and "soon" declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory. 

Trump has repeatedly said that the key energy waterway, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war, is under US control -- an assertion the Islamic republic denies. 

"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," he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state.

"It's true," he added. An unnamed White House official later clarified that Trump was joking, the Wall Street Journal reported. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi fired back Saturday in a post on X, stressing that the "Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian." "This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran's command," he added.