Berliner Tageblatt - 'Strait of Trump': US president says Iran must open key waterway

Trump, who has renamed several buildings in Washington after himself during his second term, said his comment was a "mistake" but then added that "there's no accidents with me."

Repeating his claims that Tehran is ready to make a deal despite its denials, the 79-year-old US leader said that talks were underway to negotiate an end to the month-long conflict.

Trump added that Iran was "on the run" and reiterated assertions that Tehran's leadership, navy, air force and nuclear program had all suffered significant damage.

"We're negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up," Trump told a Saudi-backed FII Priority investment forum in Miami.

"They have to open up the Strait of Trump -- I mean Hormuz. Excuse me, I'm so sorry. Such a terrible mistake."

Trump said the media would pounce upon the comment, but then added "there's no accidents with me, not too many."

He also talked about how he had ordered the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" shortly after returning to power.

During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump said it was "an option" to take control of Iran's oil as the United States has effectively done with Venezuela -- despite the fact that that the war is still raging.

Republican Trump, who rose to fame as a property tycoon with his name plastered across his own skyscrapers, made similar teasing comments before renaming Washington's Kennedy arts center the "Trump-Kennedy Center."

A peace institute in Washington was also renamed after Trump last year.

The Strait of Hormuz was open to international shipping before the conflict, but the narrow waterway has since ground to a standstill, leading to a surge in global energy prices.

Earlier Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced alarm that Iran would seek to establish a permanent "tolling system" for vessels in the strait, through which one fifth of global oil normally transits.

E.Schubert--BTB