President Donald Trump announced Friday that he intends to declare the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States, saying the declaration would follow what he described as a U.S. victory over Iran. Speaking at a police academy in Nassau County, New York, Trump told an audience of law enforcement officials that the U.S. naval blockade of the strait was "unstoppable" and characterized the military campaign as a public service to the world.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi swiftly rejected the statement in a post on social media platform X, writing that the Strait of Hormuz "cannot be seized with a tweet, nor with an aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor through an election speech." Gharibabadi declared that the strait "has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian," and said Iran would continue to enforce its own blockade until the United States "accepts the reality of defeat and stops indulging in delusions."

The exchange comes as a 60-day negotiating window, established when the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June, is set to expire Monday. That agreement required Iran to make its "best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels" through the strait, but both sides subsequently accused each other of violations and resumed hostilities before the end of June. The war between the U.S. and Iran, launched on Feb. 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian military and infrastructure targets, has produced no clear resolution.

Traffic through the strait, which carried roughly 20 percent of the world's oil supply before the conflict, has dropped sharply. Ship-tracking firm Kpler reported that only two vessels transited the waterway on Friday, with no crude oil shipments detected. A bulk carrier was struck by an unknown projectile in the strait on Friday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, which reported the crew was safe but that a damage assessment had not yet been completed.

The broader regional situation remains volatile. Global oil prices, while somewhat stabilized since the war's opening days, climbed again this week, with benchmark Brent crude futures on track for a weekly gain of roughly 6 percent as of Saturday. A Quinnipiac University poll from late July showed 60 percent of U.S. voters oppose military action against Iran, and media reports have raised concerns about strain on U.S. munitions stockpiles. Vice President JD Vance has been leading U.S. negotiating efforts, but no breakthrough has been reported as the Monday deadline approaches.