President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. Navy had swept the Strait of Hormuz clear of mines and now held "100%" control of the waterway, a declaration that puts military force at the center of who gets to move oil, ships and people through one of the world’s most important chokepoints. He told reporters in the Oval Office, "It's open now," and added that the U.S. was "the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now."
Who Holds the Waterway
Trump’s claim of total control came alongside a fresh demand that Iran pay reparations for what he called "the damage they've done" over the past half century. He said, "They asked for reparations, you might say, or they asked for money for the damage that we've done, and I said that's a good idea, well we're going to ask for money for the damage they've done over a 50-year period." He added that compensation could be used to pay damages for U.S. personnel killed or wounded in the Middle East, as well as to the families of protesters killed in a crackdown on mass unrest by the Iranian regime this year.
Trump also said in a Truth Social post on Monday that he was "demanding compensation from Iran." He said, "It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran," pointing to civilian and military deaths and casualties. "I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations," he said. The language leaves little room for ordinary people caught between states, navies and sanctions. Their losses become bargaining chips.
What Iran Says It Wants
Iran laid out its own conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, saying the waterway won’t reopen until Washington lifts its naval blockade and sanctions, withdraws American forces from the region, pays war reparations and releases frozen Iranian assets. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, also called for an end to U.S. attacks on Iran's regional allies. Before the war, the strait carried roughly a fifth of the world's oil. Now the same route sits inside a standoff between armed states, each demanding concessions while everyone else waits for the next shipment, the next price spike, the next order from above.
Iranian officials have insisted that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the U.S. agrees to its demands, including lifting its naval blockade, while its discussions with Oman over a shipping arrangement would not lead to the waterway being fully reopened. Iran has insisted that it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the U.S. continues to blockade its ports. The impasse leaves Washington treating its naval presence as a permanent fixture guaranteeing access, while Tehran treats that same presence as the primary obstacle to normalizing traffic.
Sanctions, Blockades and the People Paying
Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday pushed back on the economic front. The spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei responded to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's claims that U.S. sanctions were "suffocating" Iran. He said Washington opts for sanctions whenever diplomacy fails and escalates them when they don't work, calling that pattern less a "policy" than a "compulsive addiction." That’s the machinery at work: sanctions, blockades, military pressure, then more sanctions when the first round doesn’t bend the target.
Trump also said Monday that the U.S. Navy had swept the Strait of Hormuz clear of mines and now had "100%" control of the waterway. On Tuesday morning, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it had received a report of an incident involving a tanker and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz. The maritime security body said, "Vessels are advised to consider the latest maritime security information and maintain awareness of the evolving operational environment," and added, "Authorities are aware and relevant investigations remain ongoing."
Energy supply disruptions remain a key market concern, with tanker traffic through the strait still subdued, said Lloyd Chan, senior currency analyst at MUFG Bank in Singapore, noting that Brent prices remain way above pre-conflict levels. While periodic flare-ups remain possible, a full-blown regional war is still not the base case, Chan added. That’s the language of markets watching a militarized choke point and counting the cost while the people at the bottom absorb the fallout.