WASHINGTON, United States: President Donald Trump of the United States claimed control of the Strait of Hormuz late Tuesday, while Reuters data showed traffic fell sharply.
Trump spoke at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, in the evening on August 11, Eastern Daylight Time. He told reporters, “We own it,” and said only the United States controlled the strategic passage, according to ABC News.
Trump also said he did not trust Iran. He warned the West Asian country, whose capital is Tehran, that any new action could leave it “blown away.”
Iranian officials disputed Trump’s account on Wednesday. Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Iran’s parliament speaker, said Tehran would keep the strait closed until the war ended.
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Shipping data showed limited traffic despite that assertion. Reuters reported that Kpler tracked eight vessels in the strait on Tuesday. That marked the lowest daily count since August 5 and trailed the 10-day average of about 12.
LSEG recorded 11 transits, down from 14 on Monday, Reuters said. The agency added that 130 to 140 ships typically crossed daily before Iran closed the route after US-Israeli attacks began on February 28.
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Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Bloomberg that Washington and Tehran were nearing “some sort of arrangement” over the waterway. Pakistan has helped mediate the negotiations.
