Soon after President Donald Trump declared the United States has “total control” of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran pushed back hard, with multiple officials in Tehran insisting the opposite is true. The clashing claims are the latest flashpoint in the Iran war, which has repeatedly centered on control of the narrow waterway that once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
Donald Trump and Tehran offer conflicting accounts of who controls passage through Strait of Hormuz
Hossein Taeb, the newly appointed head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary unit, said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz is “under Iran’s control and management.” Speaking a day after Donald Trump’s remarks, Taeb said the US had tried to disrupt the Islamic Republic’s regional standing by launching another war in the strait. However, they had been defeated again despite claiming Iran lacked an air force or navy.
“Today you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic Republic,” Taeb said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. He added that Iran continues on its course “in complete security.”
Iran’s joint military command, known as Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, echoed that stance later Thursday, stating that no vessel could pass through the strait without Tehran’s approval. The command dismissed US assurances about normal shipping traffic as “nothing more than lies and falsehoods,” as per state media (via Reuters).
The standoff dates to February 28, when US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered the current war. Tehran responded by effectively closing the strait, prompting Washington to impose a naval blockade on Iranian shipping and ports while pledging to protect navigation for vessels bound to and from non-Iranian ports.
Now, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News that Iran is trying to hold the global economy “hostage” but is pursuing a “losing strategy” that will eventually strangle its own economy. Wright said 8 to 9 million barrels of oil move through the strait daily and expressed hope gas prices, now near $4 per gallon nationally, will fall to $3.
