Trump suggests renaming Strait of Hormuz after himself

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Sep 2, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested renaming Strait of Hormuz after himself, a move he predicted would make the strategic waterway at the heart of his conflict with Iran “hotter than ever before!”

Just a week after Trump moved to rename Lake Ontario amid his trade war with Canada, the president floated an even more audacious gambit: calling the waterway Trump Strait.

“Should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???” Trump asked on his social media site. “Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!”

Trump asserted that he was proposing the new name to underline his disputed claim that the U.S. now effectively controls the Strait of Hormuz, which ships must pass through to get from the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and the rest of the world.

He already posted maps of the ancient trading conduit — which reputedly gets its current name from that of an ancient Persian queen — marked as being under American military domination and claimed he might proclaim it a U.S. territory.

If Trump follows through on it, the renaming effort would likely raise hackles across the Middle East, even among conservative Gulf Arab allies.

Iran scoffs at Trump’s claim about controlling the strait and military and geopolitical analysts say Tehran still holds the power to threaten oil tankers and other shipping with missile and drone attacks as well as mines.

Six months after Trump launched the war against Iran, only a small fraction of normal tanker traffic is passing through the narrow waterway as Iran and the U.S. trade sporadic attacks and Iran warns shippers to pay it tolls or stay away. In normal times, about 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through it.

The near-closure of the choke point has sent oil prices much higher, increasing global fuel prices and prices at the gas pump for Americans, who tell pollsters they plan to punish Trump’s Republican allies at the polls in the midterm congressional elections.

Changing names of geographic entities and putting his name on institutions is one of Trump’s well-worn political tactics.

He signed an executive order in 2024 to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, but international organizations have stuck with the original moniker.

With Canada and the U.S. trading barbs after trade talks collapsed, Trump moved to rename Lake Ontario, which straddles the border between the two nations, as Lake America.

Even before the war with Iran, the U.S. sided with its Arab allies in their push to rename the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf. That shift has won fairly wide adoption in the Arab world but not in the broader international community.

_____