US President Donald Trump said Friday that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory, following earlier comments to Fox News that the United States will hit Iran hard economically.

“Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump told a crowd at a Garden City, New York, event honoring police.

Trump said the declaration would come “after we [the US] finish defeating Iran,” which he described as being “very badly defeated.”

“We have the blockade,” he noted. “No ships get through unless we want them to.”

Trump added that he “built [up]” the US military, which he used “a little more than I wanted to, frankly, but that’s okay.”

“We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he emphasized. “Do we agree? Can’t let them.”

His comments came a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would impose measures on Tehran that have “never been seen” as soon as next week.

This is a developing story.

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