Trump Labels Strait of Hormuz ‘New U.S. Territory’

President Trump just planted a digital American flag in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump posted a map on TRUTH Social Tuesday labeling the strategic waterway “new U.S. territory,” escalating his public pressure campaign against Iran without offering any additional explanation.

The image immediately drew a response from Tehran.

“Soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, wrote on X.

Trump first floated the extraordinary idea during an Aug. 14 speech at a police academy on Long Island.

“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,” the president said.

Trump did not explain whether the map represented a serious territorial objective, a negotiating threat or another effort to keep Iran off balance.

But the message arrived as Trump continues to insist that Iran will not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon and that the United States, not Tehran, will determine what moves through the strait.

The president has frequently used social media declarations and maximalist threats to establish leverage before negotiations. His latest post turns that approach into a map, transforming a contested strategic chokepoint into an apparent piece of the United States with three words.

pic.twitter.com/MxwhOXd4uv

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 18, 2026