Trump: Soon I will declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory

Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world... and if it attacks us, we will respond with a force a hundred times greater.

The naval blockade is a “wall of steel”... no ships will pass without our permission.

U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric toward Iran, announcing that he would soon reveal a step concerning the Strait of Hormuz, and stating, “Soon I will declare the Strait of Hormuz to be U.S. territory,” while affirming the continuation of the naval blockade and the prohibition of any ship’s passage without Washington’s approval.

Trump described the naval blockade imposed on Iran as a “wall of steel,” insisting that any Iranian attack on the United States would be met, in his words, with a response “a hundred times stronger.”

He stressed that Washington would not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, saying that Tehran’s path could not be permitted to continue, and adding that had it not been for the strikes carried out using B-2 bombers, Iran would have possessed a nuclear weapon.

Trump said he had instructed his administration’s leaders to undertake a “short trip to the Middle East to avert a potential catastrophe,” noting that pressure on the Iranian regime was necessary to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

He added that when Americans pay an extra amount for fuel, it is “so that an extremely evil state does not acquire a nuclear weapon,” in his words.

Trump acknowledged that he had used military force more than he had wished, but he affirmed that pressure on Iran was necessary, describing it as “the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world.”

In defending his policy toward Tehran, Trump said, “I will never apologize; I did the right thing,” adding that war with Iran would be “a great service to the world,” and that the United States “is doing a wonderful job.”