Iran-US war latest: Trump says Strait of Hormuz will soon be ‘called a territory of the United States’

# Why This Matters Trump's assertion that the Strait of Hormuz will become "a territory of the United States" represents an extraordinary escalation in rhetoric that could reshape global energy markets and international law if pursued as policy. The Strait handles roughly 21 percent of world petroleum transit, meaning any US military seizure or effective control would give Washington unilateral power over oil prices affecting every industrialized economy, fundamentally altering geopolitical leverage for years. Such a move would directly violate the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which guarantees free passage through international straits, and would likely trigger immediate responses from China, Russia, and US allies dependent on Gulf oil—potentially fracturing the Western coalition and destabilizing markets already strained by six months of conflict. Beyond the economic chaos, explicit territorial claims on waterways between Iran and Oman cross a line from military posturing into the language of annexation, mirroring justifications used in other contemporary territorial disputes and signaling a potential break from the post-World War II international order that has governed trade and conflict for decades.