During a speech on New York's Long Island, the president alluded to a plan to declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory.
"After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon, I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," Trump told a crowd of law enforcement officers. "Essentially, that's what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to."
Prior to the U.S. launch of strikes on Iran earlier this year, the Strait of Hormuz was a crucial maritime passageway for oil tankers. Since the start of the war, however, passage through the strait has slowed almost to a close.
The flow of traffic through the strait has been a central point in peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.