Trump floats renaming Strait of Hormuz then says the idea was just thrown out
United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz as “Trump Strait” despite ongoing clashes with Iran—then hours later implied he was not serious.
Trump has made several geographical name changes in his second term. The latest idea came as he insisted the United States had full control of the waterway even as fighting continued. “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!” he wrote on Truth Social. The White House posted a map of the Gulf with the suggested name. He has also threatened to claim sovereignty over the strait and posted a map labelling it new US territory.
Asked in the Oval Office whether he was serious, he chuckled and said the idea “was just thrown out there.” Some of his earlier jokes later became official. Last week he signed an order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America” amid a trade dispute with Canada. He renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” on his first day back in office in January 2025. Neither Mexico nor Canada has accepted those changes. The Treasury on Wednesday issued $1 coins featuring his face for the 250th anniversary of US independence.
The war itself has not paused. Fighting flared again after weeks of calm. Iran said a US strike killed four people at a wedding and called it a war crime, then struck at US bases in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq. Trump said Washington was ready to attack again but that a renewed campaign would not last “too long.” Iran has kept the choke point—once carrying a fifth of the world’s oil—largely shut. US fuel costs have risen, and the president’s party faces a difficult midterm election in November.
Renaming a strait does not open it. The exchange of fire, the wedding deaths and the blocked oil lane remain the facts on the water. The name on a White House map is messaging. Whether it stays a joke or becomes another signed order will not, by itself, end a war that has already lasted more than six months.
