US President Donald Trump has threatened to declare the Strait of Hormuz American territory as Washington intensifies economic pressure on Iran and negotiations over ending the war remain stalled.

Speaking at a political event at the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, New York, on Friday, Trump said the United States would claim the strategically vital waterway after defeating Iran.

“After we finish defeating Iran — which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump said, drawing laughter from the audience.

He offered no explanation of how the United States could claim sovereignty over the strait or what legal basis Washington would invoke.

The Strait of Hormuz runs between Iran and Oman, connecting the Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. Before the war, roughly a fifth of the world's oil passed through the waterway.

Trump also claimed the United States controlled shipping in the area through its blockade of Iranian ports.

“We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” he said.

Iran rejects Washington's claims of control. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Saturday that passage through Hormuz would be determined by Tehran.

“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by a tweet or an aircraft carrier, by issuing an order or by delivering an election speech,” Gharibabadi said.

Commercial traffic through the strait has fallen sharply. Only two vessels crossed on Friday and neither appeared to be carrying crude oil, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler cited by Reuters. More than 130 ships a day passed through the waterway before the war, although vessels operating without active transponders may not appear in tracking data.

The dispute over Hormuz has become a central obstacle to efforts to halt the war, which began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on 28 February.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview published on Saturday that Tehran had not decided to resume direct negotiations with Washington.

“We have not yet made a decision to restart negotiations with the United States,” Araghchi said, reiterating the position in a Telegram post.

He said messages were being exchanged through Qatar and Pakistan but insisted those contacts did not constitute negotiations.

Iran is separately working with Oman on technical arrangements for shipping routes through Hormuz, Araghchi said. He added that the resumption of broader shipping would depend on a political agreement and Washington meeting Iranian conditions.

Other governments are also attempting to break the diplomatic deadlock.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held discussions this week with the foreign ministers of Austria and Greece, both of whom subsequently spoke with Araghchi. The US State Department said Rubio had not asked them to carry messages to Tehran, although it acknowledged Iran had been discussed.

Austria has offered to host potential talks, while Greece has stressed freedom of navigation and maritime security because of its substantial shipping interests.

Washington is simultaneously preparing to increase economic pressure on Tehran.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that additional measures would be announced as early as next week.

“Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country,” Bessent told Newsmax.

He said Washington intended to combine intensified economic isolation with its naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump also told Americans on Friday to accept higher petrol prices as a cost of the war. The average US price of a gallon of petrol stood at about $4.08, 29% higher than a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association figures cited by Reuters.

The economic consequences are also being felt in Iran. President Masoud Pezeshkian has blamed high inflation on US sanctions and the blockade of Iranian ports.

The latest rhetoric leaves Washington and Tehran publicly entrenched over Hormuz. Iran says it will determine when and how the waterway reopens, while Trump is now threatening to claim it as US territory without setting out how such a declaration could be implemented.