TRUMP has said he will make the Strait of Hormuz US territory after the Iran war is over, as a new warship heads for the global chokepoint.

During a speech at a Long Island academy, the US President confidently declared that the gateway to the Gulf would one day be “a territory of the United States”.

BESTPIX - President Trump Travels From Washington To New York And New JerseyTrump has said the Strait of Hormuz would be US territory following the war Credit: Getty : USS Abraham Lincoln supports Operation Epic FuryConditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have come under fire Credit: Reuters

About a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies pass through the narrow channel, making it one of the most critical transit pathway on the globe.

During the speech Friday the president said: “After we finish defeating , which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon, I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.

“Essentially, that’s what it is.

“We have the blockade.

FILES-US-IRAN-ISRAEL-WAR-MILITARY-CARRIERThe USS Abraham Lincoln is currently stationed on the Strait of Hormuz Credit: AFP : An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham LincolnThe strait is the world’s most important oil chokepoint Credit: Reuters

“No ships get through unless we want them to.”

Prior to the US launch of on Iran earlier this year, the Strait of Hormuz was a crucial maritime passageway for oil tankers.

But since the start of the war passage through the strait has been difficult and has, at times, completely closed – causing sever global shocks due to skyrocketing oil prices.

Control of the flow of traffic through the strait has been a burning issue in peace negotiations between the warring states.

The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and Oman and is governed by the Convention on the of the Sea.

No single country owns it, as parts overlap the territorial waters of both nations.

Trump’s speech comes as the deployed another aircraft carrier to waters off Iran after a scandal erupted over the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

While it was first thought that the USS Theodore Roosevelt would make its way to the Middle East, the Washington is said to have been been deployed to the area, according to an anonymous US official.

The strait has been the site of renewed fighting in recent months.

Despite a memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran in June to bring a stop to military operations in the war, fighting resumed by the end of the month.

Iran has continued to target commercial vessels in the strait, claiming that part of the strait falls within its territorial waters and therefore remains under its control.

Meanwhile the US has set up a naval blockade in the strait, where the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln launches airstrikes.