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Iran live updates: Trump posts map labeling Strait of Hormuz 'new' US territory

The U.S. and Iran are yet to agree a deal over the Strait of Hormuz.

Last Updated: August 18, 2026, 5:20 PM EDT

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.

Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.

The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.

10:08 AM EDT

Trump says no talks are scheduled with Iran

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that there are "no talks or conversations" occurring now or scheduled in the future with Iran and asserted that the U.S. Naval blockade of the country remains in "full force and effect."


Writing on social media Tuesday, Trump also claimed that the Strait of Hormuz was "open and operating" and that "all water mines have been removed or detonated."


Trump's post comes just a day after Fox News reported that the president said in an off-camera interview that the U.S. was backchanneling with the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.


Tehran had previously denied that such talks were occurring following an Axios report that Iraqi Kurdish officials were helping to mediate discussions between the U.S. and IRGC.

8:32 AM EDT

Iran official says Trump's Strait of Hormuz map is 'delusion'

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi responded to President Donald Trump's posting of a map labeling the Strait of Hormuz as a U.S. territory by saying the image amounted to a "delusion."

"Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will soon either be corrected, or we will correct the delusions of this delusional man," Gharibabadi wrote in a post on his X account on Tuesday.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian

7:49 AM EDT

Trump posts map labeling Strait of Hormuz 'new’ US territory

President Donald Trump posted an image of a map on social media Tuesday that labeled the Strait of Hormuz a "new" U.S. territory.

Trump's post -- which was presented without additional comment -- came after he said last week that he would "pretty soon" be "declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States."

-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr

6:20 AM EDT

Strait of Hormuz to be closed until US accepts Iran's demands, Ghalibaf says

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran's negotiating team in peace talks with the U.S., told the Iranian parliament on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. accepts Tehran's demands.

"The Strait of Hormuz will not open until the blockade is lifted, frozen assets are released, the oil embargo is lifted and threats and military operations on all fronts end, as well as other terms of the memorandum," Ghalibaf said, as quoted by the semi-official Mehr News Agency.

Ghalibaf was referring to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the combatants in June, which has thus far failed to produce a full peace settlement.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti

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