Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A day after resuming war against Iran, US President Donald Trump claimed once…again that America now controls the Strait of Hormuz—although Tehran has rejected the claim time and again– and that the key waterway be renamed as the “Trump Strait.”
The narcissist Republican leader, who loves to rechristen names even beyond the US territory, made the fresh suggestion a day after the US Central Command (Centcom) carried out another round of attacks on Iranian military targets, the media reported on Thursday.
Interestingly, Trump’s suggestion came under continued Iranian attacks on ships in the region.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump wrote, “Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???”
His strange suggestion came less than a day after US forces targeted at a wedding party, killing at least four people, including two children, in the southern Iranian city of Sirik.
Military targets
According to the US Central Command (Centcom), the strikes targeted air defence systems, radar installations, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications facilities linked to Iran’s power-behind-the-throne Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The latest strikes followed a roughly month-long pause in active fighting between the US and Iran. On Sunday, the US military said it had attacked two Iranian launchers on Larak Island that were preparing to fire rockets carrying naval mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran responded to Tuesday’s US strikes by launching missiles at American bases at four pro-US Arab countries in the region. The renewed fighting pushed oil prices up by about 4 per cent.
His other name-changes!
Trump’s Hormuz suggestion is the latest in a series of geographical renaming proposals made so far by the US President, with the people paying little attention. A week earlier, he ordered Lake Ontario to be renamed “Lake America” amid an ongoing trade dispute with Canada.
Earlier in his second term, beginning January 2025, he had also announced that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the “Gulf of America,” which Mexico and several other countries rejected.
Both Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico have been known by their current names for centuries, and the US shares borders with both.
Hormuz-under-control
Trump and his administration have repeatedly claimed that Iran no longer controls the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway carried about one-fifth of global oil trade before the war began on February 28, 2026. However, shipping through the strait remains far below pre-war levels and has declined further in recent days as military strikes have resumed after a weeks-long pause.
The Trump administration has also said that overall oil exports from the region are now higher than before the war if shipments through pipelines operated by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which bypass the Strait of Hormuz, are included.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Wednesday that more than 17 million barrels of oil passed through the strait on Monday, calling it a wartime record. Before the conflict began on February 28, about 20 million barrels a day of crude oil and petroleum products moved through the waterway.
Iran disputes US claims
Iran continues to reject Washington’s claims that the strait is open and under US control. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said civilian areas and infrastructure had been hit in several provinces. It also said a wedding ceremony in Kuhestak, in Sirik County, was among the locations the US targeted.
Centcom spokesperson Navy Captain Tim Hawkins told TIME, “We are aware of reports, which originated from Iranian state media. The US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC.”
The IRGC later said it had carried out retaliatory attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as another American facility in Iraq.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia also accused Iran of attacking an oil tanker, saying two people were killed.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a monitoring agency affiliated with the British Royal Navy, has reported attacks on vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz almost every day.