President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would be soon declaring the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory, escalating his rhetoric over the vital waterway that carries a significant share of global oil supplies.
Trump told Fox News on Friday that the United States will hit Iran hard economically as Washington and Tehran struggle to reach a deal to end a nearly six month conflict.
His comments came a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. was going to apply measures that have "never been seen" on Tehran as soon as next week.
Trump, together with Israel, launched a war against Iran on February 28 with the stated aims of ending the country's controversial nuclear program and sparking a popular uprising.
However, Iran struck back by establishing de facto control over much of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passageway for large amounts of global energy and other commodity shipping.
The United States remains locked in a stalemate with Iran over the strait, with Iran denying access to much of the civilian shipping and the US Navy mounting a blockade of Iranian ports in an attempt to cripple its economy.
