President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the United States has established complete dominance over the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, insisting America intends to maintain that position as tensions with Iran continue and commercial shipping remains sharply reduced.
Trump said the United States “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz,” adding, “I think we will keep it.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised the effectiveness of the U.S. naval blockade, saying it has prevented Iran from regaining influence over one of the world’s most critical maritime energy corridors despite Tehran’s ongoing attempts to restrict traffic through the passage.
“Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” Trump wrote.
The president also argued that months of fighting have left Iran’s military in a severely weakened state. He said the country effectively has “no Navy” and “Air Force” remaining and claimed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been “decimated.” Trump further highlighted Iran’s mounting financial troubles and soaring inflation as additional signs of the regime’s decline.
“Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s comments came as shipping activity through the Strait of Hormuz continued to operate at a fraction of its normal pace. Data from Kpler showed that just eight ships passed through the waterway on Tuesday, marking the lightest daily traffic since Aug. 5.
Before Iran moved to shut down the strait following the launch of U.S.-Israeli military operations on Feb. 28, roughly 130 to 140 vessels traveled through the channel each day. Of the eight ships recorded Tuesday, seven entered the strait using the Iranian shipping lane, while only a single vessel—a coal carrier—departed.
Separate figures compiled by LSEG showed 11 vessel transits on Tuesday, a decline from 14 recorded the previous day.
Trump’s assertion that the United States controls the waterway stands in direct contrast to repeated statements from Iranian officials, who insist Tehran alone will decide when normal maritime traffic can resume.
Mohsen Rezaei, who was recently appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would stay closed unless the United States altered its policies and agreed to Iran’s conditions for ending the conflict.
Iran has demanded that Washington bring the war to an end, release frozen Iranian assets, and halt military operations elsewhere in the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza.
The latest exchange of warnings comes as the United States intensifies its campaign against Iranian maritime activity. Washington initially imposed a naval blockade on ships traveling to and from Iranian ports in April, then reinstated it in July after a ceasefire reached in June collapsed.
According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. forces this week fired on a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman after its crew allegedly ignored repeated warnings while attempting to violate the blockade.
Although Iran continues to insist it controls the fate of the Strait of Hormuz and commercial traffic remains well below normal levels, Trump’s message left little doubt about his administration’s position: the United States believes it has seized the advantage in the struggle over one of the world’s most important waterways.
