• Tehran says waterway will remain under its control, vows to maintain blockade
• White House official says president’s remarks were ‘a joke’
• Pezeshkian acknowledges economic toll of war; Araghchi rules out talks without strict conditions
• Iranian military calls for release of three pilots ‘detained’ in Qatar; Doha denies holding any
DUBAI: Iran fired back on Saturday at US President Donald Trump’s claim that he would soon declare the strategic Strait of Hormuz part of US territory, asserting the crucial energy waterway it has blockaded will indefinitely remain under Iranian command.
The rhetorical clash comes as attacks on Emirati oil tankers brought maritime traffic in the vital waterway to a near standstill.
“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.
“This strait will be opened and closed only at Iran’s command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” he added.
Trump, speaking at a rally in New York on Friday, said that after the US defeated Iran, he would “pretty soon” declare Hormuz US territory. A White House official later attempted to soften the statement, saying the president had been joking.
Diplomatic efforts to end the standoff remain frozen. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on Saturday that Tehran has not decided to resume negotiations with Washington. He clarified that messages exchanged via Qatar and Pakistan do not amount to negotiations, adding that the US must meet strict conditions for shipping to resume.
A top Iranian official, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, outlined those conditions last week, demanding an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq,” alongside the termination of crippling sanctions and compensation for wartime damage.
As diplomacy stalls, violence in the strait persists. The United Arab Emirates’ state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said one of its vessels came under attack while transiting the strait on Friday evening, following similar attacks on two ADNOC vessels Thursday.
No injuries were reported. Additionally, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that a bulk carrier was struck in the hull by an unknown projectile in the strait on Friday.
The attacks have dramatically slowed traffic. Vessel-tracking data from Kpler showed only two non-oil vessels passing through on Friday with no crude shipments visible, a stark contrast to the more than 130 ships that traversed it daily before the conflict began in late February.
For Gulf economies built around oil exports, the disruption has created a crisis that extends far beyond the battlefield.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s chief executive described the country’s oil sector as “paralysed”, with more than 90pc of government income dependent on crude exports travelling through Hormuz.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said reopening Hormuz was a priority and that he had discussed ending the war and Washington’s role in doing so with Trump.
Despite Iran’s defiant tone regarding the strait, President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged the war’s severe economic toll on his country. In remarks carried by state media, Pezeshkian attributed rising inflation to the US blockade and the destruction of industrial facilities.
“Our revenues have declined. We used to sell oil, but now we cannot sell it,” Pezeshkian said, noting that damaged factories have decimated tax revenues.
Washington has signalled further economic pressure, with Treasury secretary Scott Bessent promising measures aimed at placing Tehran under unprecedented isolation. The US military has also vowed to maintain an indefinite naval blockade of Iranian ports.
However, the closure of Hormuz has also created a political headache for Trump ahead of the November congressional elections. The average US price of a gallon of gasoline reached about $4.08 on Friday, up 29pc from a year earlier.
Vice-president JD Vance said keeping energy prices low was Washington’s top priority, even as Trump urged Americans to accept higher petrol prices as the price of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Separately, Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday to help secure the release of three Iranian pilots allegedly held in Qatar.
The military’s Missing Persons Search Committee said pilots Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian were captured alive in March after their Su-24 fighter jets were shot down during an operation against a US base.
The committee accused Qatar of violating the Geneva Conventions by denying the prisoners communication with their families.
In response, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on X: “We categorically deny the claims circulating regarding the detention of Iranian pilots & are surprised by these misleading statements.” Qatar rescuers “carried out their duties to the fullest” searching for the pilots, he added.
It had “communicated with the Iranian side to coordinate the handover of the remains of one of the pilots who was found”, said Ansari. “Qatar also issued an invitation for an Iranian team to visit the Qatar to be briefed on the details of the search & rescue operations in April, but the Iranian side has yet to respond to the invitation,” he added.
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2026