Trump again claimed the US has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz.
He said Iran is the “Bully of the Middle East No Longer” as tensions continue.
Only eight vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down sharply from pre-war levels.
Only eight vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, a steep fall from the 130 to 140 ships that crossed the waterway before the war, as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and restore full shipping access remain stalled.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again claimed that Washington has “total control” over the strategic waterway, while Iran continues to link the restoration of full maritime traffic to the lifting of the US naval blockade, sanctions and the unfreezing of its assets.
Trump made the claim in a Truth Social post, repeating a statement he had made to reporters a day earlier as efforts to reach an agreement over the conflict and the future of the strait have failed to make progress.
“The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” Trump said.
He also claimed that the ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports “is being called, by everyone, “A WALL OF STEEL,” and there is nothing Iran can do about it”.
“Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer,” Trump said, ending his message with, “Praise be to Allah!”
Tehran has said it will not permit full traffic through the strait until the US naval blockade is lifted, sanctions are lifted and Iranian assets that have been frozen are unfrozen.
Ships can still pass through the waterway, but heightened threats and other obstacles have made transit more difficult. Al Jazeera reported that this has caused the volume of traffic to drop dramatically. Reuters news agency reported that only eight ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, compared with the pre-war rate of 130 to 140 ships.
The US and Israel launched the war with Iran on February 28. In June, Washington and Tehran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the conflict. The agreement dissolved in mid-July, after which both sides renewed attacks.
Fighting between the US and Israel has been mostly in recent days, with sporadic incidents. One such incident occurred on Tuesday, when a US Navy military helicopter struck a Panama-flagged cargo vessel.
The Yemen-based Houthis have also opened a new front in the war, attacking vessels in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Six people were killed on Tuesday when the group attacked an Egyptian-owned ship, marking the first deaths in such an attack.
