Iranian officials said Saturday they will maintain a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz until President Donald Trump “accepts the reality of defeat,” escalating tensions over the critical maritime corridor where commercial shipping has dropped to near-zero levels.
The statement from Tehran directly followed remarks by Trump on Friday, in which he claimed the U.S. had established an effective blockade of the waterway and intended to declare it American territory.
“This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran’s command,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X early Saturday. “So long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade.”
Maritime traffic through the chokepoint has ground to a near-total halt. Ship-tracking data showed that only two vessels navigated the strait on Friday, compared to a pre-conflict average of more than 130 transits per day.
The standoff comes as the conflict approaches the six-month mark. Speaking to an audience in Garden City, New York, on Friday, Trump said the U.S. military had severely weakened Iranian forces and laid out plans to bring the strategic passage under American jurisdiction.
“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 said. “Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”
Trump also pledged to inflict severe economic pressure on Iran and advised Americans to accept higher domestic fuel prices while negotiations continue to end the nearly six-month conflict. At the same time, he pushed back against domestic criticism over living costs, saying his policies had brought fuel prices down prior to recent military operations.
“The Democrats saying that is a hoax, because they’re the ones that cause the affordability. We’re bringing the prices way down. Look at what’s happening. Coming way down,” Trump said, recounting conversations with advisers Howard Lutnick, Scott Bessent, and Marco Rubio before military operations began.
Trump drew comparisons to past operations in Venezuela, stating that action led to significant energy gains for the United States. “Venezuela was a one-day war, and now we work great with them. We’ve taken in millions and millions of barrels of oil,” he said.
Detailing the decision to authorize military strikes, Trump said B-2 bombers were deployed to eliminate Iranian nuclear development facilities.
“We can’t let Iran keep going. They would have had a nuclear — if we didn’t hit the B-2 bombers, if we didn’t hit them, you would have had a nuclear weapon, and it would have been a very sad day for this country and for the entire world,” Trump said. “So I said, we’re going to have to put out the fire in the Middle East, and we’ve done that. They’re never going to have a nuclear weapon.”
READ: Oil Prices Rise As U.S. And Iran Remain Deadlocked Over Strait Of Hormuz
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