Trump also said that the Strait of Hormuz was “open and operational”, and that the mines had been cleared, whilst Tehran said that this strategic waterway would remain closed until Washington met the conditions set out in the provisional June agreement.
Iran stated that its conditions include the lifting of the US naval blockade and oil sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets and the cessation of military operations.
Trump separately posted a map on Truth Social in which the Strait of Hormuz is marked as ‘new US territory’. On 14 August, he stated for the first time that he would soon declare this waterway to be US territory. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Garibabadi, responded the following day, stating that the strait “will remain Iranian”.
Traffic through the strait, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies passed before the war, was blocked after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February.