White House official: Trump was joking about declaring the Strait of Hormuz as American territory

A White House official said on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump “was joking” when he said he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz an American territory. The U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal quoted the official as saying that Trump made the remark “as a joke,” and that the president had held no meetings with his advisers on the matter. This comes amid the U.S. president’s statement that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory after defeating Iran. Trump has consistently asserted that the vital waterway for global energy supplies, which Tehran closed at the outset of the war, is under U.S. control, a claim Tehran denies. Speaking at a political rally at a police academy in New York state, Trump said, “After we finish defeating Iran, which is suffering a very harsh defeat, I will very soon declare the Strait of Hormuz American territory, and that is true.”