Washington, Aug 2026 : US President Donald Trump has described the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz as “American territory” while reiterating that Iran will never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Trump made the remarks during a campaign rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he was campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Darlene Graham ahead of Tuesday’s runoff election.
Speaking about Iran and the possibility of negotiations, Trump said Tehran was eager to reach a deal before turning his attention to the Strait of Hormuz.
“They wanna make a deal so badly,” Trump said. He then declared, “It's an American territory,” while referring to the strategic waterway.
Trump did not provide any legal or territorial basis for his assertion regarding the Strait of Hormuz, which is an international maritime passage between Iran and Oman and a crucial route for global energy supplies.
The US President also said the confrontation with Iran had forced his administration to temporarily divert attention from its domestic economic agenda.
“I hate to do this, but we're gonna have to take a little detour down to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said, adding that Washington had to address the issue of Iran's nuclear programme because it could not allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
“We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he repeated.
Trump claimed that US military action had eliminated the threat and asserted that Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon.
“So we went down and we stopped them. They'll never have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
The President also claimed that Iran had suffered extensive damage to its military leadership and infrastructure. According to Trump, the country had lost significant elements of its military capabilities, including its navy, air force, radar systems and manufacturing infrastructure.
He further claimed that several levels of Iran's leadership had been eliminated.
“Their leaders are gone. Their second set of leaders are gone. Parts of their third set of the leaders are gone,” Trump said.
Trump suggested that the reported losses had also created complications for any future negotiations with Tehran because of uncertainty over whom Washington could engage with.
“In fact, it's actually one of my biggest problems. I don't know who the hell to deal with,” he said.
The President returned to the Iran conflict later in the rally while introducing “The Snake”, a song he has frequently used at political events, particularly while discussing immigration.
Addressing the crowd, Trump joked about the possibility of further military action, saying he had plenty of time on a Friday evening and rhetorically asking whether he should “go back, bomb” Iran further.
Trump also linked the confrontation with Iran to energy prices and predicted that oil and petrol prices would decline once the conflict was over.
“As soon as we're finished with the Islamic Republic of Iran, as soon as we're finished, oil is gonna be down at lower than it was even just a little while ago,” he said.
The rally was primarily aimed at mobilising Republican voters behind Graham, who has received Trump's endorsement in the Senate runoff. Trump repeatedly urged his supporters to treat the election as though his own name were on the ballot.
“I am on the ballot. We're all on the ballot. Our country's on the ballot,” he told the audience.
Graham, in turn, pledged her full support for the President, telling supporters: “I will have President Trump's back 100 per cent.”
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world's most important maritime energy corridors, carrying a substantial share of global oil and petroleum shipments. Any prolonged disruption to traffic through the waterway could have significant consequences for international energy markets, shipping and fuel prices.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
