Donald Trump proposes renaming Strait of Hormuz to Trump Strait

Proposal on Truth Social

US President Donald Trump proposed renaming the Strait of Hormuz to "Trump Strait" on Wednesday, asserting that the United States has established control over the waterway. He published the suggestion on his Truth Social platform, framing the name change as a reflection of American power in the Persian Gulf.

Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT??? Like America itself, it would be 'hotter' than ever before!

Shortly after the post appeared, the White House released a map of the region on social media with the maritime corridor labelled as "Trump Strait", accompanied by the comment that the name has a nice ring to it. In mid-August 2026, Trump shared a similar graphic describing the passage as a new American territory.

Geography and military confrontation

Hostilities between the United States and Iran have continued since 28 February 2026, following joint US and Israeli strikes. Iran controls the northern territorial waters of the passage, while Oman holds the southern shoreline. On Tuesday, US forces carried out strikes near the waterway against suspected Iranian minelaying activities. Iranian officials stated that an American strike killed four people attending a wedding, calling the incident a war crime. In response, Iranian forces launched strikes against US military installations across Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates.

Oil transit and shipping security

Maritime traffic through the chokepoint remains disrupted by a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and reciprocal attacks on commercial vessels. Saudi Arabian officials confirmed that an attack on a Saudi oil tanker on Monday night killed two crew members. Despite the threat, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright reported that two tankers transporting 17 million barrels of crude oil navigated the corridor on Monday. That volume represented the highest single-day crude flow since the war started in late February 2026, though pre-war shipments averaged 20 million barrels per day. Diplomatic efforts, including a memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June 2026, have failed to establish terms for reopening the waterway.

Pattern of presidential renamings

The Hormuz proposal extends a series of geographic and institutional renamings implemented by Trump since returning to the presidency. In January 2025, he signed an executive order designating the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America", a change rejected by the Mexican government. In late August 2026, he issued a decree renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America" during trade disputes with Canada, drawing opposition from Canadian officials and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

New York will not call it that.

Trump also reverted the name of Denali to Mount McKinley and altered the names of federal bodies. The United States Institute of Peace was renamed the Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace, while a legal challenge halted his attempt to add his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The administration also introduced branded initiatives, including the TrumpRx pharmaceutical platform, Trump Accounts for child savings, and 250th anniversary one-dollar coins featuring the president's likeness.