At a police academy in Garden City, New York, President Donald Trump told a cheering crowd on Friday that he intended to declare the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States. "After we finish defeating Iran," he said, "pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States." Whether the remark reflected a genuine policy shift or amounted to political theatre was not immediately clear, and no formal declaration followed. What is beyond doubt is that the comment landed with considerable force in a conflict that has already reshaped global energy markets.

The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran began on February 28, more than five months ago. Senior White House officials stated at the outset that the campaign was intended to dismantle Iran's nuclear programme and to provoke a popular uprising capable of forcing regime change in Tehran. Iran's response has been to strike American allies across the Middle East with drones and missiles, and to impose a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint through which one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas shipments passed before the conflict began. Washington responded with its own naval blockade of Iranian ships and ports.

The two sides have since been locked in a prolonged stalemate, driving energy prices sharply higher. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, rejected Trump's territorial claim outright, insisting that the waterway would remain under Iranian control and that his country would not be intimidated. At the same rally, Trump asked Americans to accept paying "a tiny little bit more" for petrol, framing the economic cost as a justifiable price for preventing what he described as a very evil country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.