President Trump has widened his rhetorical firing line beyond Iran, this time warning Oman not to interfere with U.S. plans for the Strait of Hormuz. In blunt terms during a Fox News interview, he said the country would face bombing if it "gets in the way" of American objectives in the region a threat aimed squarely at a nation that has historically played peacemaker in Middle East disputes.
The comment comes at a delicate moment. Iran and Oman have spent weeks hammering out an agreement covering how commercial vessels will move through the strait, one of the world's most strategically important and now contested shipping lanes. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei announced Saturday that despite what he described as American obstruction, the two sides had made real headway and landed on a shipping route map, even as the fine print of a formal agreement is still being worked out.
A Waterway Trump Wants to Call American
Beyond the threat itself, Trump has made an even bolder claim: once the war with Iran concludes, he intends to declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory. Speaking Friday, he argued Iran is already on the losing end of the conflict and suggested the declaration is really just a formality at this point, given that a U.S. blockade currently decides which ships get through and which don't.
That statement follows an earlier clash with Iranian military leadership. Major General Amir Hatami, one of the country's top commanders, pushed back hard on Trump's territorial ambitions, warning that joking about seizing the strait was a serious miscalculation and that Iran's forces stood ready to make the President regret it going as far as threatening to "break his legs."
The strait's importance isn't just symbolic. Before the current conflict erupted, roughly one-fifth of the world's oil shipments passed through those waters daily. The ongoing tug-of-war over who controls it has already pushed global fuel prices sharply higher.
No Rush to End the War
Trump has also made clear he's not looking to wrap things up quickly. He confirmed the existence of a secret backchannel with leadership of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, timed to coincide with the expiration of the 60-day window laid out in a memorandum of understanding, according to reporting from The Jerusalem Post.
Axios later identified the go-between as Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Barzani's background makes him an unusually well-placed intermediary he lived in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, studied at the University of Tehran, speaks fluent Farsi, and has maintained personal ties with several IRGC figures over the years, per the Jerusalem Post's sourcing.
Asked about the Guard's leadership, Trump offered a mix of grudging respect and dismissal, calling them skilled negotiators who are nonetheless losing ground, and adding that he's in no hurry to force a resolution. He went further, suggesting Iran should consider raising "the white flag of surrender," and downplayed the firepower the U.S. has used in the conflict so far, calling it "peanuts" compared to what's still available.
Weapons, Ukraine, and the Nuclear Red Line
Trump also touched on America's military stockpiles, saying the U.S. still has plenty of mid-tier weaponry in reserve. He took the opportunity to blame former President Joe Biden for giving away more advanced munitions to Ukraine, framing it as a decision that's now limiting U.S. options.
Through it all, Trump has stuck to one consistent message: stripping Iran of any path to a nuclear weapon remains his top priority. In a post on Truth Social, he reiterated that stance plainly, stating that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon in any form a line he's repeated throughout the conflict as the defining goal of U.S. involvement.
Comments
Post a Comment