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TEHRAN — Iran has sharply rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest claim that Washington could declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory, with senior Iranian officials warning that any attempt to challenge Tehran’s position in the strategic waterway would face a decisive response.
Iranian Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz was an “inseparable part” of Iran’s territorial and border domain, dismissing Trump’s remarks as baseless and warning against any “adventurism” in the waterway.
“What multi-billion-dollar aircraft carriers could not achieve will not be achieved with a few tweets and speeches,” Mohseni-Ejei wrote on social media, arguing that military pressure had failed to alter Iran’s position.
He said Iran was the rightful owner of the strategic waterway under international law and the principles of national sovereignty and warned that displays of U.S. military power would not change the situation.
The comments came after Trump said he would “pretty soon” designate the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. territory, a claim that Tehran has dismissed as legally and politically untenable.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi also rejected Trump’s remarks, saying the strategic waterway could not be seized through a social-media post, an aircraft carrier, an executive order, or an election speech.
“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet, nor by an aircraft carrier, neither by issuing an order nor by an election speech,” Gharibabadi wrote on X.
He said Iran was neither intimidated by threats nor deterred by displays of military power, adding that Washington should acknowledge its military and strategic setbacks.
“Accept the reality once and for all,” Gharibabadi said, asserting that the Strait of Hormuz “has been, is, and will remain Iranian.”
He further warned that the waterway would be opened or closed only under Iran’s command and said Tehran would continue imposing the blockade as long as Washington refused to accept the reality of its defeat.
An Iranian parliamentary board member, Alireza Salimi, also rejected Trump’s claim, saying the Strait of Hormuz “has been, is, and will remain Iranian,” and accused the U.S. president of making delusional statements.
The exchange comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted.
According to an analysis by maritime tracking company Kpler cited in the material, only two vessels crossed the strait on Friday, with no crude oil cargoes observed passing through the strategic chokepoint.
The figures underscore the significance of the confrontation for global energy markets. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints, with roughly one-fifth of global seaborne oil supplies typically passing through it.
Regional affairs researcher Hossein Royvaran argued that the United States has failed to impose its control over the waterway and that Washington’s renewed reliance on economic pressure indicates that the military option did not achieve its intended objectives.
His assessment reflects Tehran’s broader argument that the current dispute is not simply about navigation rights but about whether the United States can translate its military superiority into effective control over a strategically vital maritime corridor.
The confrontation over Hormuz comes as efforts to end the war face uncertainty and Washington appears to be expanding its diplomatic outreach beyond traditional channels.
According to The Associated Press, the Trump administration has been seeking broader international involvement to pressure Tehran or help ease its position as talks have stalled. Discussions involving Iran and Oman, as well as Iran and Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar, have continued at an uneven pace, while Washington has expanded contacts with European governments that could potentially play a role in the diplomatic process.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Austria’s foreign minister in Washington on Tuesday and spoke by telephone with Greece’s foreign minister on Wednesday.
The contacts are notable because the foreign ministers of Austria and Greece have also held separate telephone conversations with their Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, providing both European governments with direct channels to Tehran.
That parallel diplomacy could give Austria and Greece a potentially useful role as interlocutors at a time when the United States is seeking additional avenues for influencing Iran, while Tehran is attempting to preserve diplomatic options without conceding on core issues of sovereignty and national security.
The entry by Austria and Greece is likely less of a formal mediation attempt, analysts say, and more reflective of a desperate push to halt the conflict because of the impact it has on an increasing number of countries, beyond those in the Middle East.
“Everyone is just urging both sides to stop this reckless game of chicken,” said Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group.
It also shows how much Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced countries, which otherwise were neutral bystanders to the larger conflict, to exercise any diplomatic sway they may have on their Iranian and American counterparts to kick-start a lasting resolution.
Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, warned that any efforts by Greece, Austria or any other non-mediating country could prove to be futile.
“While the calls to both sides may entail encouraging both Iran and the U.S. back to the negotiating table, such efforts fall short of mediation, which is a very complex endeavor and requires trust to be built by the mediator with both sides,” Yacoubian said.
She added that it’s not something that any country can “just jump into.”
The contrasting diplomatic approaches also highlight the centrality of the Strait of Hormuz to the broad...
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