President Donald Trump announced plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory as he spoke at a rally in New York on Friday, celebrating what his office has described as a historic drop in violent crime nationwide.
“After we finish defeating Iran — which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon, I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” the president said to the crowd of gathered first responders.
“We have the blockade,” he added. “No ships get through unless we want them to.”
This comes after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claimed that the U.S. can maintain its blockade on Iran “indefinitely.”
The U.S. and Iran are both pushing for control of the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial oil shipping corridor. Trump faces little wiggle room in his next steps as the economic fallout from the war and dwindling stockpiles of key weapons pose political problems for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections.
The president was joined by the newly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel, at the Nassau County Police Academy, an 89,000-square-foot advanced training and intelligence center for police on Long Island.
Trump used the opportunity to tout the successes of his administration thus far in his second term.
“President Trump promised to make America safe again and the data proves he has done just that,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said. “Unlike Defund-the-Police Democrats, President Trump will always stand with our law enforcement officers and deliver safer American neighborhoods.”
The statement may be a subtle dig at New York City Mayor Mamdani, who was brutally booed off stage during an appearance at one of the city’s biggest pro-police celebrations on Staten Island last week.
As statistics suggest a growing sense of distrust in the president, Trump finds himself in a crucial position ahead of the midterms. Trump won Nassau County in 2024 by a narrow margin, flipping it for Republicans for the first time in more than two decades.
Trump’s visit was aimed at boosting Republican candidates in closely contested races across his home state, but just how much his presence will help is in question as he faces lagging approval ratings and a deeply unpopular war in Iran with no end in sight.
With a riser full of uniformed police officers behind him, Trump delivered a very political message, calling his opponents “Radical left Democrats” and his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, “Sleepy Joe,” with the crowd booing on cue.
Trump lashes out over report finding he hasn’t reduced crime
While many of Trump’s recent swing-state speeches have focused on his tax breaks and economic policies, Trump often mentions his effort to curb crime by deploying the National Guard in Washington, New Orleans and other Democrat-led cities.
This week, Trump lashed out at the Center for American Progress and threatened to sue the liberal think tank over a report finding that the National Guard deployments failed to reduce crime. Without giving evidence, Trump said in a social media post that “crime is way down since I took Office, and they know it.”
For Trump, talking about crime reduction during his trip to New York offers a chance to reach voters across political and class divisions, said Jesse Hunt, a Republican strategist.
“The issue of crime and safety is a massive winner for Republicans,” Hunt said. “What we’ve seen from the Trump administration and Republicans in general is a real focus on that issue. And they should highlight the successes.”