Trump: Iran Must Reopen the Strait of Hormuz if It Wants a Peace Deal
US President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global oil traffic if it wishes to reach a peace agreement. Trump also reiterated that negotiations to end the conflict between the two countries are underway.
Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum, a Saudi Arabian business conference held in Miami, Florida, USA, as reported by AFP and Anadolu Agency on Saturday (28/3/2026), Trump claimed that Iran is ready to make a deal despite rejections from Iranian officials in public.
“We are negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they (Iran) must open it (the Strait of Hormuz),” Trump said at the forum held on Friday (27/3) US time.
“They must open the Strait of Trump—I mean, the Strait of Hormuz. Sorry, I apologise. A very bad mistake,” he said, jokingly calling the important waterway for global oil the “Strait of Trump.”
Trump, who has renamed several buildings in Washington DC with his own name during his second term, did call his comment about the “Strait of Trump” a “mistake,” but then added that “there are no incidents with me.”
“Fake news will say, ‘he didn’t mean to say it.’ There are no incidents with me, not too many. If there were, it would be big news,” he stated.
He also spoke about how he ordered the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” shortly after returning to the White House last year.
In his statements at the FII forum, Trump described Iran as “on the run” and repeated claims about Tehran’s leadership, navy, air force, and nuclear programme all suffering significant damage.
Trump, in a cabinet meeting on Thursday (26/3), once said that taking control of Iran’s oil was “an option” as the US has done with Venezuela, even as war continues to rage.
The Strait of Hormuz was open to international shipping before the war broke out. However, passage activity in the strategic waterway has been effectively restricted since early March, triggering global disruptions that have increased shipping costs and pushed global oil prices higher.
On Friday (27/3), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed concerns that Iran would seek to establish a permanent “toll system” for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has stated that the Strait of Hormuz is closed to ships sailing to and from ports owned by Iran’s “enemies.”
Meanwhile, reports from the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) security body indicate that at least 24 commercial ships, including 11 tankers, have been attacked or reported incidents in the waters of the Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman throughout this month.