Iran on Tuesday, August 18, responded to Trump’s post claiming the Strait of Hormuz is the new territory of the United States. The Iranian Consulate in Hyderabad shared an image on X displaying a map of the US with California highlighted in blue.
The caption, accompanying the US map excluding California, read, “New territory of Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The US President shared an image on his Truth Social account earlier in the day showing the map of the Strait of Hormuz with the waterway circled below the words “NEW US Territory.”
The image appears to bear similarities to his threat, declaring Hormuz as US territory after Iran’s “surrender” last week.
Iran was quick to respond, with multiple social media accounts associated with the Islamic Republic trying to reclaim its hold over the argument.
Iran Embassy in Tunisia shared the same map, originally posted by Trump, claiming to have “fixed it.”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister also issued a rebuttal to Trump’s post. “His delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected, or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man,” he wrote in Persian on X.
Home to roughly 1,41,000 Iranian Americans, California’s Los Angeles County has the largest population of Iranian descent outside Iran, according to the Iranian Diaspora Dashboard held by UCLA’s Centre for Near Eastern Studies.
The crucial waterway has been under Iran’s chokehold since the US and Israel attacked Tehran in a joint strike on February 28. Around a fifth of the world’s traded oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz every day.
