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U.S. President Donald Trump again suggested Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz should be U.S. territory, posting a map of the waterway on Truth Social under the headline "NEW U.S. Territory." The post prompted a senior Iranian official to call the claim a "delusion."
The highlighted portion of the map included parts of the coasts of Iran, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
The post echoes a similar message Trump posted last week, when he wrote about the strait: "I THINK I WILL KEEP IT," referring to the waterway, which he has repeatedly claimed is under American control.
White House officials later said Trump had been joking when he talked about declaring the strait a U.S. territory.
Trump's Tuesday post came one day after he said declaring the strait a U.S. territory was a "great idea."
"I mean, we control it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked what he meant by his earlier comment that he would soon declare the strait U.S. territory.
"We control it with the blockade, and I like the idea of declaring it a territory," he said.
Trump had first floated the idea at an Aug. 14 event, arguing that the U.S. Navy maintains a full blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
"After completely defeating Iran, it won't be long before I declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory," Trump said.
The Strait of Hormuz has become the focal point of the nearly six-month war between the U.S. and Iran. Both sides claim control over the strategic waterway, which is used by various Gulf states to ship oil and gas from the Persian Gulf to global markets.
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The strait, located between Iran and Oman at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, has been effectively closed by Iran since fighting began in late February, disrupting a major route for global oil shipments.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said the strait will not reopen until the U.S. ends its interference in the Strait of Hormuz and its naval blockade, and fulfills the requirements of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Tehran and Washington on June 18.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi responded to Trump's post, calling his territorial claim a delusion.
"Soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man," Gharibabadi wrote in a social media post.
Gharibabadi also noted in his post that Trump had "correctly" referred to the body of water along Iran's coast as the Persian Gulf, rather than the "Arabian Gulf," a term preferred by U.S.-allied Arab nations in the region.
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