The White House says Trump was joking about Hormuz, Tehran replies that the strait stays Iranian

A senior White House official told Wall Street Journal reporter Brian Schwartz that the president has not met his advisers about declaring the Strait of Hormuz United States territory and was joking during his speech at Garden City in New York state. Trump had said in that speech that he would soon be declaring the strait a territory of the United States, adding that it is true, and he also claimed that no ships get through unless Washington wants them to. Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi replied that the strait has been, is and will remain Iranian, that it is opened and closed only at Iran's command, and that it cannot be seized by a social media post, an aircraft carrier, an order or an election speech.

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