Trump has even renamed Hormuz

Following the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario as Lake America, U.S. President Donald Trump returned on Wednesday to his biggest headache of recent months, the Strait of Hormuz, announcing yet again that it is now under U.S. control and “should we therefore change the name of the Strait of Hormuz to the Strait of Trump?”, he asked on his social media platform, Truth. This is not the first time Trump has firmly claimed to have control over navigation in the body of water that Iran has been holding hostage for the past six months; last month, he had already written that he considered the Strait of Hormuz to be ‘new American territory’, circling it on a map. The regime in Tehran retorts that the waterway is closed and under its control; in recent days, it has demonstrated that it is still capable of laying mines in the Strait, and two oil tankers were attacked within minutes of each other whilst attempting to pass through it.

The US Navy is helping ships navigate the southern route near Oman and continues to strike maritime positions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but maritime data show that traffic remains well below pre-war levels, oil prices are not falling, and attacks in the Strait show no sign of stopping. According to some analysts, Trump is now playing a game of ‘whack-a-mole’ with Iran; the available options have been exhausted and so the only remaining strategy is to keep repeating the same things, both rhetorically and operationally. And it’s not just with Iran: yesterday he threatened Canada again on Truth, writing that for Canadian politicians such as Prime Minister Carney, “it is very advantageous to portray President Donald Trump as ‘the enemy’, until their economy collapses; at that point it will prove to be a serious political mistake – worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian politician. Just watch!”.