Donald Trump said he would declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory of the United States” despite having repeatedly failed to reopen it.
The US president on Friday said he would annex the waterway, before suggesting he already controlled it anyway.
Iranian officials accused Mr Trump of indulging in “fanciful delusions”.
During a speech in New York on Friday, Mr Trump said: “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.
“Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”
Mr Trump said paying ‘a tiny bit more’ for petrol was the cost of not letting Iran obtain a nuclear weapon – Atta Kenare/AFP
However, the president also nodded to the economic upheaval unleashed after Iran effectively choked off the strait following the US and Israeli bombing on Feb 28.
Americans would have to pay “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” as the cost of ensuring a “very evil country” could not develop a nuclear weapon, he said.
Traffic through the strait has slowed to a trickle since the start of the war, and Mr Trump’s attempts to reopen it with military forces, economic pressure and diplomacy have failed.
Just nine commercial vessels headed through the waterway on Thursday, according to data firm Kpler, which tracks shipping, compared to pre-war averages of 130 to 140 ships a day.
Kazem Gharibabadi (right), the deputy Iranian foreign minister, said the strait ‘cannot be seized by tweet’ – Askin Kiyagan/Anadolu/Getty Images
Securing the strait, which is bordered by Iran and Oman, would almost certainly require boots on the ground, something the president has so far been unwilling to contemplate.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said Tehran would not be intimidated by the president’s rhetoric.
“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech. Iran neither fears threats nor cowers before displays of power,” he said.
Directly addressing the president, he said: “Once and for all, accept the reality: up to this point, you have suffered strategic and heavy defeats; the Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian and will remain Iranian.”
