Dire straits: Brand on the run as Trump suggests Hormuz can be renamed in his honor - The Times of India

**Dire straits: Brand on the run as Trump suggests Hormuz can be renamed in his honor** *The Times of India*

Washington – In a televised address on Tuesday, President Donald Trump asserted that the United States “controls” the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz and floated the notion of renaming the waterway after himself. The comment, made during a briefing on U.S. naval operations in the Persian Gulf, was accompanied by footage of a senior U.S. Navy commander declaring that the shipping lanes were “mine‑free” after recent clearance operations. While no formal proposal has been lodged with the International Hydrographic Organization, the president’s remark sparked a flurry of diplomatic responses and raised questions about the United States’ messaging amid heightened regional tensions.

Iranian officials dismissed Trump’s suggestion as “grandiose propaganda” and warned that any perceived challenge to Iran’s sovereign interests in the Hormuz corridor could exacerbate existing frictions. Tehran’s foreign ministry reiterated that the strait, which funnels roughly one‑fifth of the world’s petroleum shipments, remains under Iran’s “historic jurisdiction,” even as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea guarantees freedom of navigation for all nations. India, a major consumer of Gulf oil and a key stakeholder in the region’s security architecture, called for “responsible rhetoric” from Washington, emphasizing that commercial traffic must remain uninterrupted and that any unilateral naming effort would have no legal standing.

Analysts note that the president’s remarks come at a time when the U.S. is reinforcing its naval presence in the Gulf, a move intended to deter Iranian threats after a series of drone and missile incidents targeting commercial vessels. The Department of Defense, however, has not confirmed any policy shift regarding the strait’s nomenclature, and senior officials stress that the United States continues to support the internationally recognized name “Strait of Hormuz.” The episode underscores the delicate balance between symbolic political gestures and the practical imperatives of maritime security in one of the world’s most contested choke points.