President Donald Trump proposed renaming the Strait of Hormuz to "Trump Strait" on Wednesday, citing U.S. control of the strategic waterway at the center of the ongoing war with Iran.
"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!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. The White House shared the post on its official X account, featuring a map labeled the waterway the "Trump Strait" with the caption, "It's got a nice ring to it."
When asked by reporters how seriously he was considering the proposal, Trump said he had merely suggested the idea in passing.
The proposal follows an executive order Trump signed less than a week earlier directing U.S. federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario as "Lake America" amid an escalating trade dispute with Canada. Trump later claimed that both Google Maps and Apple Maps had adopted the new name for the lake.
Legal and jurisdictional obstacles would likely impede any formal renaming of the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway lies within the borders of Oman and Iran and is governed by international maritime law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The U.S. does not have authority over it. Unlike the Lake Ontario name change, which applies only to U.S. federal government usage and does not compel private companies or the international community to follow suit, renaming an international waterway would face substantially greater hurdles.
Trump has a history of proposing geographic name changes. In January 2025, he issued a similar order renaming the Mexican Gulf to "American Gulf," a change that neither Mexico nor Canada recognized.
In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly threatened to bring the Strait of Hormuz fully under U.S. control and published a map designating the waterway as "new U.S. territory." On Tuesday, Trump announced that U.S. forces had conducted "large-scale and forceful" strikes in retaliation for what he described as a failed Iranian attempt to place naval mines in the strait. Trump asserted that mines had been "completely removed or detonated" and that the strikes also responded to eight Iranian missiles launched against a U.S. military base in Jordan.
Trump warned that if Iran responded to the U.S. attack, it would face "another blow much harder and of greater magnitude," though he stated it would not be the largest attack of all.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical maritime passages for energy transport. Before the conflict began, approximately one-fifth of global maritime oil and natural gas trade passed through the waterway. Iran has effectively blocked the strait during the war, making control of the passage a central point of contention between the U.S. and Iran.
The Trump administration has asserted that total oil exports from the region are now higher than they were before the war began.