The Strait of Hormuz, the contested waterway at the center of the war with Iran, became the subject of a proposed name change on Wednesday when U.S. President Donald Trump suggested rebranding it the “Trump Strait.”
Writing on social media, Trump argued that American control of the passage justified the change. “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!” he wrote.
The strait carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil. Its status remains disputed, with the corridor still contested during the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran.
The proposal followed data pointing to heavy traffic through the passage. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC that more than 17 million barrels of oil transited the strait on Monday, which he described as a new wartime record.
The idea is the latest geographical renaming Trump has raised. The suggestion came one week after he ordered Lake Ontario to be renamed. Earlier in his term he moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The waterway has been a focal point of the conflict for months. Trump has previously said he intends to declare the strait U.S. territory, a claim Tehran rejected. Iran has separately asserted its own control over the corridor.
The strait links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the open sea. It is one of the world’s most heavily used oil transit chokepoints, bordered by Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south.
Naval activity has intensified around the passage since peace talks between Washington and Tehran collapsed. The U.S. Navy has maintained a presence in the corridor as fighting continued.
The record oil flow reported for Monday came despite the wartime conditions. Wright cited the figure as evidence that shipments were moving through the strait at high volume.
Trump has not indicated any formal process for changing the name of an international waterway. The strait’s name derives from long-standing regional usage and appears under Hormuz on international maritime charts.