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United States President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that the United States would now call the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait,” adding that Washington was “winning” its war with Iran.
“Oil prices will be going down as soon as we win the war with Iran, which is taking place right now. We’ll win it,” Trump said during a Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas.
“We’re winning it. We control the Hormuz Strait. I think we should call the Hormuz Strait, we should call it the Trump Strait. I should get something out of it. The Trump Strait,” he said.
“It’s going to be called—ladies and gentlemen, I’ll have an announcement—we’ll call it the Trump Strait, and I’m sure the Iranian leadership will be thrilled with that,” he added.
Trump said Iran was “falling apart,” describing it as “the bully of the Middle East for 51 years.”
“They’re not the bully anymore,” he said.
Trump also warned that the U.S. might target Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain “because somebody said there was a little movement at the site,” claiming Washington was aware of all activity in the area.
“We know exactly what’s going on,” Trump said.
“I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard. We have no choice, right?” he added.
“We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple.”
His remarks came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. over the Strait of Hormuz, despite the signing of a memorandum in June that envisioned a deal to reopen the strategic waterway as a prelude to a wider peace agreement.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said the war with Iran would “end immediately” after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“I think the war will end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump told reporters before traveling to Dallas.
Arguing that Tehran was “desperate to try and affect the election,” Trump said Washington was not actively seeking a return to nuclear talks.
“We’re not looking for it. Yes, a negotiation could possibly happen, but it’s not something we’re looking at,” he said.
Trump also said his administration was doing “much more than a nuclear deal.”
“There is a lot more than nuclear,” he said, adding that “there is gonna be a lot of other things on the table.”
Trump said recent U.S. strikes in the Strait of Hormuz had incapacitated nine Iranian tankers.
“You’re going to see a lot more. We’ve taken out about nine of their tankers,” he said.
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