Trump assures that he will declare the Strait of Hormuz "territory of the United States"

BarcelonaNew grandiloquent promise from the President of the United States. Donald Trump has assured in the last few hours that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz as "United States territory" once the American army has fulfilled its mission to "defeat Iran". The leader assured this at a rally in New York, and quickly received a response from Tehran: "The Strait of Hormuz cannot be conquered with a tweet or with aircraft carriers, nor by issuing an order or with an electoral speech," wrote Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, on X.

The Iranian diplomat warned that Tehran "is not intimidated by threats or cowed by displays of force," and made it clear that the strait "has been, is, and will remain Iranian." This week, Trump had already referred to the possibility of the United States "keeping" the Strait of Hormuz, assuring that they already control the maritime route, even though Iran has installed radars, missile launchers, speedboats, and submarine mines at this key maritime point.

Amidst the rhetorical skirmish, this Monday, August 17th, the 60-day deadline established by the memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran at the end of June. This time was supposed to allow the conversations between the two parties to move forward. However, two months later, progress is minimal and, in fact, the text agreed upon at the beginning of the summer has barely been respected.

An agreement that is wet paper

The list of breaches of the agreement is extensive. The cross-attacks, although to a lesser extent than during the winter and spring, have been constant, despite the text stating that they should end. The United States has not lifted the naval blockade of Iranian ports. In the Strait of Hormuz, given Washington's threats to control it, there is no indication that Iran has carried out the demining operations it committed to, and maritime traffic in this key passage for international trade has not been restored to pre-war levels.

However, there have been no major developments for weeks, at least publicly. In the last meetings between the two parties, in Switzerland at the end of June and in Doha at the beginning of July, both Washington and Tehran pointed to significant progress, but since then almost no news has emerged, and the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, assured yesterday that Iran has not yet made any decision to resume negotiations with the United States.