President Trump claimed on Wednesday that the US has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz and may “keep it” despite Iran continuing to demonstrate its control of the waterway and engaging in negotiations with Oman on its future.
“The USA has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, one day after US forces bombed a ship allegedly attempting to get past the US blockade of Iranian ports.
“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their ‘Leadership’ is uncertain, at best! They have No Money – Their country is ‘shot.’ All they have is FAKE NEWS and 300% INFLATION, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer. Praise be to Allah!” he added.
Trump’s post came as Reuters reported that traffic through the strait fell to a one-week low on Tuesday, with just eight ships transiting the waterway that day, below the recent average of 12 ships per day. Before the war, somewhere between 130 and 140 would cross the strait each day.
The report said that seven of the eight vessels entered the Persian Gulf through the strait on the side closer to Iran’s coast, suggesting they received Tehran’s permission to pass. According to media reports, the potential deal on the table between Iran and Oman would involve inbound vessels crossing the strait near Iran while outbound ships would transit near the Omani coast.
Iranian officials have said that a deal with Oman wouldn’t automatically open the strait to all traffic and have laid out several conditions for the US, which are essentially the same as those the US initially agreed to under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed in June. Those conditions include the lifting of the US blockade on Iran, lifting sanctions, and an end to Israel’s war in Lebanon.
