U.S President Donald Trump Suggests Renaming Strait Of Hormuz ‘Trump Strait’

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz “Trump Strait” as fighting with Iran continued to disrupt shipping through the key waterway.

Trump said the United States had control of the strait and asked on Truth Social whether it should be renamed.

“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???” Trump wrote. He added that, like America itself, it would be “hotter” than ever before.

The White House later posted a map of the Gulf showing the waterway as “Trump Strait”. The post added: “It’s got a nice ring to it.” But Trump later appeared to play down the idea.

Asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office if he was serious about changing the name, Trump replied: “No, no … it was just thrown out there,” before chuckling.

It was not immediately clear how the United States could change the name of the international waterway, which is not near the United States.

Hormuz shipping remains far below prewar levels

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below prewar levels. Ship trackers said the number of commercial transits fell further in recent days as military strikes resumed after a weekslong pause.

Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed through the strait. Around 20 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products moved through Hormuz before the conflict began on Feb. 28.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Wednesday that more than 17 million barrels of oil passed through the strait on Monday. He called it a wartime record.

The Trump administration has also said the region is now exporting more oil than before the war, including oil sent through Saudi Arabia’s and the UAE’s pipelines that bypass Hormuz. 

Fighting continues near the waterway

Iran has effectively shut down the chokepoint in response to the war that Trump started with Israel in late February.

U.S. forces launched fresh strikes near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Trump said the strikes were in response to new Iranian efforts to lay mines.

Iran said one U.S. strike killed four people at a wedding and described the attack as a “war crime”.

Iran later launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, and Iraq.

Trump said on Wednesday that the United States was ready to attack Iran again. He said the renewed campaign would not last “too long”.

Trump Has Also Renamed Other Places

The Hormuz proposal is not the first time Trump has proposed renaming major places.

After returning to the White House in January 2025, he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”. Mexico and Canada have not accepted the change.

Last week, Trump signed an order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” during a trade war with Canada.

Canada rejected the change, while Google and Apple have recently updated their maps.

Trump has also changed the name of Denali back to “Mt McKinley”.

He has also used his name for other projects, including the Kennedy arts centre in Washington, a peace institute, the “Trump Gold Card” immigration programme and a “Trump Rx” drug-sales website.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury also issued $1 coins featuring Trump’s face for the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, despite federal law saying that no living president may appear on U.S. currency.

References: cnbc, abs-cbn