Trump posts ‘Trump Strait’ map after Iran offers to reopen Hormuz in 7 days

US President Donald Trump has posted a map on Truth Social showing the Strait of Hormuz as “Trump Strait”. The post came shortly after Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strategic waterway if the US agreed to a set of conditions. Trump has since rejected Iran’s proposal, according to US officials.

Trump posted the map on Saturday, showing the Strait of Hormuz labelled “Trump Strait”. The waterway has not been officially renamed internationally and continues to be known as the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had raised the idea of changing the name earlier this month. On September 2, he asked on Truth Social whether the Strait of Hormuz should be renamed “Trump Strait” after he said it was under US control. The White House later shared a map using the same name.

Iran’s 7-day plan

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran had sent Washington a seven-day plan through Qatar. Under the proposal, the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened and normal maritime traffic restored within seven days if the required conditions were met.

Araghchi said the seven-day timeline would begin once the US accepted the plan. The initial steps would take four to five days, the strait would reopen on the sixth day, and talks with the US on Iran’s nuclear programme and other agreed issues would begin on the seventh day.

Iran’s conditions

Iran’s proposal requires the US to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions affecting Iranian oil sales and observe a ceasefire covering the region, including Lebanon. The plan also calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets, estimated at about $12 billion.

In return, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks with Washington on its nuclear programme. Tehran has said the measures sought from the US were already part of the memorandum of understanding agreed by the two sides in June.

Trump rejects proposal

Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days. The rejection was reported by The Wall Street Journal and has also been reported by multiple outlets, while Iran has been awaiting a formal US response.

The Strait of Hormuz has been a major point of tension during the nearly seven-month US-Iran conflict. Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passed through the waterway. Disruption to shipping has affected energy supplies and the wider global economy.

Oil shipments rise

Trump’s latest post also comes after US forces escorted commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. On September 2, the US military escorted 40 commercial vessels carrying about 18 million barrels of oil through the waterway, according to US officials cited by CNN. It was described as a wartime high for oil transported through the strait.

The operation took place as US forces faced drone attacks and anti-ship missiles while escorting the vessels. The ships carried nearly as much oil as the roughly 20 million barrels a day that passed through the strait before the war.

The latest developments leave the Strait of Hormuz at the centre of the dispute, with Iran offering to reopen the waterway as part of a seven-day plan and Trump rejecting the proposal while using the “Trump Strait” name on his social media map.

(Edited by : Vivek Dubey)