Trump labels Strait of Hormuz ‘US territory’ as Iran says Israel is biggest obstacle to negotiations

August 18, 2026
Elis Gjevori

Tehran says the waterway will remain closed until Washington lifts its blockade and fulfils an interim agreement

On 15 August 2026, Iran rejected the US president’s threat to declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory, saying the crucial energy waterway it has blockaded 'will remain Iranian'. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump has claimed the Strait of Hormuz as American territory as his frustration mounts over a war with Iran that has resisted his demands and dragged global shipping into crisis.
Trump posted a map of the strategic waterway on Truth Social on Tuesday bearing the caption “New US Territory”.
The provocation revived his threat last week to declare the strait American territory following an Iranian “surrender” that never came.
Instead, Tehran has tied the reopening of the passage to Washington fulfilling an interim agreement, including ending its naval blockade, lifting sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian assets.
Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday the waterway would remain closed until Washington honoured its commitments.
“Let me state clearly: Until the commitments made by the United States in the memorandum of understanding, including the lifting of the blockade, the release of frozen assets, the lifting of oil sanctions, the end of threats and military operations on all fronts, and other conditions to which America agreed in the memorandum, are implemented, the strait will not be opened,” Ghalibaf said.
 
Israel 'remains the biggest obstacle'
Traffic through the strait remained in single digits on Monday as negotiations stalled. Preliminary Kpler data recorded six commodity vessels, evenly divided between inbound and outbound traffic, against a 10-day average of about 11.
Only three vessels crossed on Saturday and two on Sunday. No supertankers or liquefied natural gas carriers passed through, although Kpler said ships operating without transponders may not appear in the figures.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that a departing vessel had been hit on Tuesday.
“The Company Security Officer has reported that the vessel was struck by an unknown projectile while conducting an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz,” it said.
“The impact caused damage to the engine room and resulted in a crew casualty,” it added, adding that the remaining crew were being assisted by the Omani coastguard.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of working to derail negotiations and prolong the conflict.
“The Zionist regime was and remains the biggest opponent and obstacle to the implementation of the memorandum of understanding. They made every effort to prevent such an agreement from being reached, every effort to make this agreement fail, and every effort to prevent it from being implemented,” he said in comments carried by IRNA news agency.
Araghchi said Trump’s demand for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” had collapsed and that Tehran forced Washington to negotiate on Iranian terms.
According to the report, Araghchi said those who “sought an unconditional surrender, within a short time of the war’s commencement, were begging for negotiations.
“It was us who said we would not accept a ceasefire and continued the war until we reached a point where they accepted a ceasefire and negotiations on Iran’s terms,” he said.
 
Stalled negotiations
Qatar said mediators would resume efforts to end the US-Israeli war and restart talks after Iran and Oman reached a bilateral agreement governing transit through the strait.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said Trump had failed to establish any route towards nuclear concessions from Tehran.
“It’s crystal clear that there is no current path to get Iran to give up its nuclear program,” Murphy wrote on X.
“They are toying with Trump and his diplomatic ingenus,” he said.
“They know they can get complete sanctions relief and all their frozen money without a single nuclear concession.”
The disruption has spread through the global economy. China’s refined fuel exports rose 6.7 percent in July after Beijing eased wartime controls introduced to shield its domestic market from supply shortages.
Inside Iran, annual inflation reached 66 percent, while food and drink prices surged 128.1 percent year on year.