New Delhi: US President Donald Trump once again shared a picture of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz on social media platform, ‘Truth Social’
and called it ‘new US territory’. This is not the first time that the President has called the Strait a part of the US, despite repeated pushbacks by Iran. Iran has maintained that the waterway is closed and would continue to remain so, unless the US changes its approach.
When was the first time Trump termed the Strait of Hormuz as US territory?
Trump had first shared the image of the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as a US territory on August 18. Before that while speaking at a Police Academy on Long Island on August 14, he had declared that he would soon be “declaring the Strait of Hormuz” as US territory.
Responding to the US President, Iran’s supreme national security council secretary Mohsen Rezaei said that the Strait of Hormuz would not open unless the US fulfilled its commitments and changed its behaviour.
The Iranian media quoted Rezaei as saying, “The Strait of Hormuz is closed and will not reopen.” He further said, “If the United States changes its behaviour and fulfills its commitments, the equation will be different, but this time the United States must act. It cannot be resolved through words and talks.”
Even though Iran has declared that the Strait is closed, the traffic through the strategic waterway has increased in recent days. Around 200 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz last week, reported the Times of India. Around 150 ships crossed around a week earlier than that, while the figure 2 weeks earlier was 40, said data from the UK maritime trade operations.
Around 80% of the oil carrying tankers used the Omani route backed by the US, which is also authorized by the International Maritime Organization, said the Maritime intelligence firm Kpler. They either crossed from here or “went dark” it said.
According to Iran, it had also reached an agreement with Oman on a “middle route” through the Strait of Hormuz. However a formal declaration has not been formalised yet, informed Rezaei.
