President Donald Trump said Friday he would "finish defeating" Iran and "soon" declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory.

 

Trump has repeatedly said that the key energy waterway, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war, is under US control -- an assertion Tehran denies.

 

"After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated -- pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in New York state.

 

"It's true," he added, according to AFP.

 

An unnamed White House official later clarified that Trump was joking, the Wall Street Journal reported.

 

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi fired back Saturday in a post on X, stressing that the "Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian."

 

"This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran's command," he added.

 

Trump, together with Israel, launched a war against Iran on February 28.

 

The United States remains locked in a stalemate with Iran over the strait, with Iran denying access to much of the civilian shipping and the US Navy mounting a blockade of Iranian ports in an attempt to cripple its economy.

 

"We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to," Trump said to a cheering crowd of supporters and police.