COMMENTARY: Special correspondent
American President Donald Trump posted an image on his Truth Social today. An AI-generated image. It has the Strait of Hormuz circled, and above it, in large letters:
NEW U.S. TERRITORY
I wrote that line in capitals on purpose. Because this is not something said in a speech. This is a picture. One state is drawing an image and declaring another country’s sea lane its own territory.
Now the question is: does the Strait of Hormuz belong to America?
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No. To the north of the strait is Iran. To the south is Oman. America is an outsider sitting several thousand kilometres away.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi answered this on X today: “We will correct the delusions of this delusional man.”
Last night, Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”
Meaning he does not want Oman reaching any agreement with Iran in any way at all. And yet Oman is an American ally. There are American troops in Oman. Oman lets America use its bases.
That same Oman, simply for talking to Iran, is today having its existence discussed. The threat was made once before as well, this past May.
The Strait still closed
Now let us come to the calendar. The war began on February 28. In June, a memorandum of understanding was signed, with a 60-day deadline. February passed into March. April, May, June and July went as well.
Now it is August. Yesterday those 60 days ran out. There is no deal. The strait is still closed.
Iran’s Speaker, the man who led Tehran’s negotiating team in the peace talks, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said in Parliament today: “The Strait of Hormuz will not open until the blockade is lifted.”
He laid out the rest of the conditions too — frozen assets must be released, the oil embargo must be lifted, threats and military operations on all fronts must end.
Think about it. The one who is supposedly finished off is the one setting the conditions.
But? Yes, there is a big but here. Trump said yesterday: “The Strait is open, and the oil prices are coming down.”
And yet on that very same day Brent crude went past US$90. And Reuters reported today, citing preliminary Kpler data, that six commodity ships passed through the strait on Monday.
The 10-day average is 11. Six. That is what total control looks like.
Cheap oil and gasoline
Now look at the state of things inside Washington. Vice-President JD Vance said on Fox last Thursday that goal number one is: keep oil and gas cheap for Americans.
On Monday morning Trump posted that goal number one is stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
The Vice-President says one thing. The President says another. And Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on that same Fox programme today that the strait was still a conflict zone.
The President says total control. His own Secretary says conflict zone.
This morning UKMTO reported that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the strait. The engine room was damaged. One crew member was a casualty. The Omani Coast Guard has moved in to assist the rest.
Yes, you are reading that right. The Omani Coast Guard. The Oman that was threatened with bombs yesterday is today saving ships in those very waters.
But the question is: why is Oman not backing down even after all these threats?
Not backing down
Here I will give my own opinion instead of quoting anybody else.
Oman is not backing down because Oman has worked out the arithmetic. Geographically the southern shore of the strait belongs to Oman. Iran cannot run the strait without that shore, and America cannot sustain the blockade without it either.
When you hold the thing both sides need, threats stop working.
JUST NOW: President Trump declares Strait of Hormuz as US territory. pic.twitter.com/OXyskj6BXW
— Donald J Trump Posts TruthSocial (@TruthTrumpPost) August 18, 2026
And the whole world is watching this scene. An allied state that gave its bases, that allowed troops, a relationship two centuries old — is being threatened with bombing simply for talking to its neighbour.
Trump has taken Venezuela. He wants to take Cuba. He wants Greenland too. He says all of it openly. And this same America goes around preaching peace, civilisation and democracy from country to country.
Write it down — after the Iran war the countries of the world will slowly pull themselves away from America. Europe has understood all this and is moving along its own path.
But the kings and sultans of the Gulf still do not understand. The way Oman is being glared at today, the day American interests take a hit, that same treatment will fall to them. The America they have kept close to protect their own thrones is the same America that will one day bring about their ruin.
I am closing today’s piece with something Trump himself said. About the Iranians he told Fox: “Good poker players, but they’re dying.”
Those who are dying stood in Parliament today and set the conditions. And the one with total control is generating a picture with AI and declaring territory.
When an empire has to draw a map to prove possession, you have to understand that in reality the possession is not in its hands.
Republished from Iran International.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
APR editor | Radio Free (2026-08-19T06:00:46+00:00) Correcting the Trump delusions about the Strait of Hormuz. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/08/19/correcting-the-trump-delusions-about-the-strait-of-hormuz/
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