NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump on Sunday again shared an image on Truth Social describing the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz as “NEW US Territory”, even as Iran maintained that the waterway was closed and would remain so unless Washington changed its approach.Trump had first shared the same image on August 18. Speaking at a police academy on Long Island on August 14, he had said, “Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States.”Iran’s supreme national security council secretary Mohsen Rezaei, meanwhile, said Tehran would not reopen the strait unless the US fulfilled its commitments and changed its behaviour.“The Strait of Hormuz is closed and will not reopen,” Iran International quoted Rezaei saying. “If the United States changes its behavior and fulfills its commitments, the equation will be different, but this time the United States must act. It cannot be resolved through words and talks.”Despite Iran’s declaration, traffic through the waterway has increased in recent days. Nearly 200 ships crossed the Hormuz last week, compared with about 150 the previous week and around 40 two weeks earlier, according to UK maritime trade operations data cited by the New York Post.Maritime intelligence firm Kpler said more than 80% of liquid cargoes passing through the strait over the past two weeks either used an Omani route backed by the US and authorised by the International Maritime Organization, or went “dark”.Rezaei also said Iran had reached an agreement with Oman on a “middle route” through the strait, although a joint statement had yet to be finalised.
