Iran has forcefully rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. could declare the Strait of Hormuz American territory, while a new report of a ship strike in the crucial waterway underscored the ongoing volatility in the region.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi took to X late Friday to insist that the strait’s fate rests with Tehran alone.
“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian; this strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command,” Gharibabadi wrote. “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.”
His comments came after Trump claimed that “pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States” following a U.S. defeat of Iran. The president, who has floated the possibility of imposing tolls on the waterway after the conflict — though he later backed away from that idea — has said the strait was an open, un-tolled international waterway before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28.
No ceasefire in sight
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister indicated that no negotiations are underway between the two countries. Seyed Abbas Araghchi was quoted by Iranian outlet Shahrara News as saying, “We do not have anything like a ceasefire.”
“No negotiations have been held between us and the United States at this time,” Araghchi said early Saturday. “Qatar and Pakistan are exchanging messages between the parties and are in contact with us, but this does not mean negotiations.”
The diplomatic standoff comes as the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO), which is backed by the British Navy, said Saturday it received a verified report of a bulk carrier “being struck by an unknown projectile which has hit the hull.”
Shipping in the strait has repeatedly come under fire from Iranian projectiles since an interim ceasefire broke down in June, and the U.S. has struck Iranian targets as part of its blockade of Iranian ports.
Energy prices remain elevated
With the military and diplomatic situation mired in stalemate, energy prices are still running higher than pre-war levels. Trump said Friday that Americans would have to tolerate slightly higher fuel costs as the U.S. pressures Iran, telling the public that paying more at the pump supports the effort to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline across the U.S. was $4.07 on Saturday, according to the American Automobile Association — well above the $3.15 average from a year earlier.
On the economic front, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. will apply measures “that have never been seen on Iran,” describing a combination of “economic isolation like the world has never seen before” and a continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz to keep anything from going in or out of Iranian ports. He made the comments in a Newsmax interview Thursday night.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly said late Thursday that the military can sustain the naval blockade of Iran “indefinitely,” with the Navy rotating ships in and out as needed.
Carrier rotation and conditions aboard the Lincoln
Media reports have indicated that the aircraft carrier USS George Washington is headed to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed in the Middle East for more than 250 days — well past its expected May return. The Navy said the George Washington strike group departed Vietnam on Aug. 12.
Hegseth pushed back on reports of poor conditions aboard the Lincoln, including food shortages, declining morale and attempts by sailors to jump overboard, calling them “completely misrepresented.”
After those comments, Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., said on X that he had sent a letter to Hegseth and acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao expressing serious concerns about conditions on the carrier. The letter cited reports of moldy showers, broken toilets, lack of hot water, limited fresh produce and supply shortages, as well as an “overwhelming workload” leading to “extreme fatigue and burnout.”
U.S. Central Command said in a post on X that reports alleging a brawl aboard the carrier were false and that no service members have died. That response followed claims from Iranian media on Tuesday that seven U.S. Navy personnel had been killed and several wounded in a violent clash on the Lincoln.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/15/iran-rebuffs-trumps-claim-over-hormuz-amid-report-of-ship-strike.html
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