Trump Proposes Renaming Strait of Hormuz After Himself
President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz — the international waterway at the center of the six-month-old U.S. war with Iran — after himself, floating the idea in a Truth Social post published at 10:23 a.m.
“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT??? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump wrote.
The proposal marks the latest instance of the president attempting to rename a geographic feature outside U.S. borders during a period of active military conflict, and it landed as American forces continue to enforce a naval presence over one of the world’s most strategically vital oil chokepoints.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Renaming Proposals
Wednesday’s post came less than a week after Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” a move directing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to update the federal Geographic Names Information System. Canada rejected the change outright, though Google and Apple have since updated their mapping platforms to reflect the new name.
The Hormuz proposal also follows Trump’s earlier move, during his first weeks back in office, to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” — a change that was similarly rejected by Mexico and other international bodies. Unlike Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico, both of which border the United States directly, the Strait of Hormuz sits thousands of miles away, bordered instead by Iran and Oman.
Not the First Time Trump Has Floated Territorial Claims Over the Strait
Wednesday’s suggestion was not an isolated remark. Trump said last month that he intended to formally claim the strait as U.S. territory, telling reporters, “Pretty soon, I will be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.” He has not detailed how he would legally execute either the renaming or the territorial claim over a waterway that has never been under the sovereign control of the United States.
Trump Walks Back the Proposal Hours Later
Asked by reporters at the White House on Wednesday afternoon whether he was serious about renaming the strait, Trump appeared to downplay the proposal almost as quickly as he made it.
“No, no … it was just thrown out there,” Trump said, leaving unclear whether any further action would follow the Truth Social post.
Strait Remains Central to the Six-Month Iran War
The Strait of Hormuz has functioned as the primary flashpoint of the war since the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on February 28. Before the conflict began, roughly 20 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined products moved through the strait, accounting for close to one-fifth of global oil shipments.
The war has significantly disrupted that flow. Independent shipping data from the International Monetary Fund’s PortWatch initiative has shown ship traffic through Hormuz remaining well below prewar levels for much of the conflict, with a seven-day moving average of roughly five daily ship arrivals recorded earlier this summer, down from more than 100 arrivals before the U.S. and Israeli strikes began in February.
Renewed Strikes Break Weeks-Long Pause in Fighting
The renaming proposal also arrived one day after the U.S. military launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran on Tuesday, ending a period of relative calm in the conflict. U.S. crude oil prices dipped slightly Wednesday even as the military exchange resumed, with futures hovering near $90 per barrel.
Trump addressed the state of the conflict directly in a Truth Social post published Tuesday, signaling no urgency toward a negotiated settlement with Tehran. “I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing,” Trump wrote. “They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”
Energy Secretary Touts Wartime Record for Oil Transit
The president’s renewed focus on the strait coincided with remarks from Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan in an interview Wednesday that more than 17 million barrels of oil and gas products transited the Strait of Hormuz by ship on Monday — the highest single-day total recorded since the war began.
Wright told CNBC that when accounting for pipeline capacity from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that bypasses Hormuz entirely, total oil exports leaving the region on Monday exceeded prewar levels. He also argued that Iran is losing its ability to “hold the world economic hostage” as the U.S. military assists tankers transiting the strait, adding that Tehran is “causing some disruption but they are losing that card.”
Independent Data Paints a More Mixed Picture
Wright’s remarks stand in some tension with independent shipping trackers, which have reported that transit volumes through Hormuz remain depressed compared to prewar norms and have declined further amid the resumption of military strikes in recent days. Before the war, roughly 20 million barrels per day moved through the strait; even the administration’s own record-setting Monday figure of 17 million barrels falls short of that prewar baseline before pipeline volumes are added in.
The U.S. military has also established a shipping corridor along Oman’s coastline that allied Gulf tankers use to move through Hormuz, frequently transiting at night with transponders turned off to avoid detection — a tactic that has complicated independent verification of the administration’s export figures.
Six Months Into the Conflict, No End in Sight
Wednesday’s exchange over the strait’s name unfolded against the backdrop of a war that has now surpassed the six-month mark with no diplomatic resolution in place. Despite the administration’s claims of near-total control over Hormuz and a collapsing Iranian economy, no agreement has been reached to end hostilities or curtail Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. continues to maintain its naval blockade over the shipping route, a posture the administration has framed as central to its economic pressure campaign against Tehran even as questions persist over the accuracy of official transit and export figures.
What Comes Next
Trump has not indicated whether he will pursue any formal steps to alter the strait’s name, and his own comments to reporters Wednesday afternoon suggested the Truth Social post was more offhand suggestion than policy proposal. Still, the episode adds to a growing list of geographic renaming efforts pursued by the administration during his second term, spanning U.S. domestic waterways and now, for the first time, a shipping lane over which the United States holds no legal claim.