Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei on Tuesday mocked US President Donald Trump’s claim over the Strait of Hormuz, saying the distance between Washington’s inability to reopen the strategic waterway and its claim to own it is greater than the 7,000 miles separating the US capital from the strait.
Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X: “The gap between America’s inability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and its claim to own it is greater than the 7,000-mile distance between Washington and the Strait itself."
“Welcome to the post-American order in the Persian Gulf," he added.
Alongside his post, Rezaei shared an illustration of a world map with the caption, “Some dreams are too far from reality", mocking Trump’s move to label the waterway “NEW U.S. Territory".
Rezaei, a former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council earlier this month, replacing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr.
Trump on Tuesday posted a map on Truth Social showing the Strait of Hormuz as “NEW U.S. Territory", reviving his recent threat to claim control over the vital waterway.
The strait is a major global energy chokepoint, with around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies normally passing through it. Iran has effectively shut the waterway since the start of the war, disrupting shipping and threatening global energy supplies.
Trump first raised the idea of making the strait US territory last week, saying he would soon make such a declaration. Iran responded that the waterway “will remain Iranian".
Trump revisited the idea on Monday, saying control of the strait would be a good idea.
The latest exchange comes as the nearly six-month-old war between Iran and the US, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has settled into a tense standoff.
Iran has said it will not reopen the strait until Washington meets a broad list of demands, including ending its blockade of Iranian ports, lifting oil sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian assets and paying war damages.
