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VOA VIEW -- Is the opinion of "Voice of Americans", which is a private entity not affiliated in any way with the United States government or any of its agencies. The opinions expressed here, in whatever medium or format, are not necessarily the opinions of the ownership or advertisers of this web site - 0415.

     Iran rebuffed U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that the Strait of Hormuz would soon become U.S. territory, as a ship in the crucial waterway was reportedly struck and negotiations with Tehran appeared no nearer to resuming.  No one cares what Iran says or thinks.

     “The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian; this strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X late Friday. “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.”  Earlier, Trump claimed that after the U.S. defeats Iran, “pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”

    Trump, known to cite the phrase “to the victor belong the spoils,” has floated the possibility that the U.S. could impose tolls in the strait once the conflict ends, though he later dropped the idea. The strait was an open, un-tolled international waterway before the U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb. 28 by launching strikes against Iran.  Iran’s foreign minister was quoted as saying the two sides do “not have anything like a ceasefire.”  “No negotiations have been held between us and the United States at this time,” Iranian news outlet Shahrara News quoted Seyed Abbas Araghchi as saying early Saturday. “Qatar and Pakistan are exchanging messages between the parties and are in contact with us, but this does not mean negotiations.”

     Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) — an organization backed by the British Navy — said received a verified report of a bulk carrier “being struck by an unknown projectile which has hit the hull.”  Following the breakdown of an interim ceasefire in June, shipping in the strait has repeatedly come under fire from Iranian projectiles and the U.S. has struck Iranian targets as part of its blockade of Iranian ports.   Amid the military and diplomatic stalemate, energy prices remain elevated compared to pre-war levels.

     Trump said that Americans would need to tolerate slightly higher fuel prices while the U.S. punishes Iran. "So, for you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have, a country that really is the number one state sponsor of terror in the world,” Trump said in his speech.  “We don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon. So, remember that, when you have to pay a little bit more, you’re at four dollars,” Trump said.