President Donald Trump said Friday that he could soon declare the Strait of Hormuz “a territory of the United States,” an extraordinary remark as he touted U.S. military control of the critical waterway during the war with Iran.
“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump said during remarks at the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Nassau County, New York.
The president also said he has used the military “a little bit more than I wanted to” but argued pressure on Tehran is necessary to prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell blasted media coverage of the USS Abraham Lincoln on Friday, accusing outlets of twisting the hardships of an extended combat deployment into a “false narrative.”
“I deployed for 485 days in Afghanistan with an 80 percent-plus casualty rate. We came under fire nearly every day,” Parnell wrote on X. “Combat deployments bring real hardship. That is simply the truth.”
Parnell said sailors aboard the Lincoln have faced genuine challenges but argued those difficulties, along with the strain on military families, are being exploited for headlines.
“The media treatment of the USS Abraham Lincoln is something different,” he wrote. “Legitimate challenges of a long combat deployment are being twisted into a false narrative, while the genuine difficulties faced by military families are being used for headlines. That is shameful.”
Parnell said the carrier’s sailors remain “resilient, focused on the mission, and proud of their service on this historic deployment,” sharing a statement from Navy Secretary Hung Cao announcing the Lincoln will soon return home as part of a planned rotation.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said early Saturday that one of its vessels was attacked while crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Friday evening, marking another security incident involving the UAE energy giant in the critical waterway.
The attack did not result in any casualties and the situation was brought under control, ADNOC said in a statement carried by the Emirates News Agency, WAM.
The company did not identify who was responsible for the latest attack or provide additional details about the vessel or damage.
“ADNOC stresses the importance of protecting the safety of seafarers, ensuring freedom of navigation and maritime security,” the company said.
The incident comes after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said Thursday that Iran attacked two vessels affiliated with ADNOC as they transited the Strait of Hormuz.
{{#rendered}}Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Friday accused the media of intentionally misrepresenting conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, defending sailors and Marines following the carrier’s extended combat deployment in the Middle East.
“The reckless & shameless ‘American’ media completely & intentionally misrepresent the USS Abraham Lincoln,” Hegseth wrote on X. “The brave Sailors of that Strike Group are very proud of their tough & historic mission. They embody resilience & excellence.”
Hegseth shared photos from a discussion with U.S. troops serving across CENTCOM’s area of responsibility, including personnel aboard the Lincoln, describing them as “incredible Americans on a historic mission.”
His comments come as officials push back on reports about morale and conditions aboard the carrier after more than 260 days at sea. Navy Secretary Hung Cao said Friday that the Lincoln will soon return home as part of a planned rotation, while President Donald Trump said another carrier will replace it in the region.
U.S. Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) changed leadership Friday as the broader CENTCOM theater remains occupied by the war with Iran and preparations for the next phase of the Gaza peace plan.
Rear Adm. Thomas Donovan assumed command of SOCCENT from Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers during a ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, according to U.S. Central Command.
The transition comes as CENTCOM forces continue enforcing a blockade against Iranian ports and coastal areas, with 62 commercial vessels redirected as of Friday.
Jeffers, who led SOCCENT since June 2024, will remain in the region’s security picture as commander of the International Stabilization Force supporting the Gaza peace plan.
“During his 25 months in command, Maj. Gen. Jeffers has led with great dedication and courage as a forward-thinking and innovative leader,” CENTCOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Patrick Frank said.
Donovan, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who began his career as a Navy SEAL in 1996, most recently led the Special Reconnaissance and Enabling Command for U.S. Special Operations Command.
Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao praised the USS Abraham Lincoln crew Friday and pushed back on reports about conditions aboard the carrier, hours after President Donald Trump said the ship would soon be replaced following its extended Middle East deployment.
“The USS Abraham Lincoln crushed their deployment and will return home soon as part of a planned rotation,” Cao wrote on X. “The safety and security of our Sailors and Marines always comes first.”
Cao said the carrier has spent 266 days deployed, including 200 days in a combat zone, while conducting more than 10,000 sorties and dropping 1.5 million pounds of ordnance.
“The Lincoln was extended because the mission demanded it,” Cao said. “Deployments are hard. Combat operations make them harder. War is hell and normal routines are disrupted.”
He also pushed back on reports portraying the carrier’s crew as victims, acknowledging that sailors and Marines had been “pushed to their limits” while maintaining that they “have never broken.”
{{#rendered}}President Donald Trump told Fox News on Friday that the U.S. is in firm control of the Strait of Hormuz, touting what he described as a “wall of steel” blockade and warning Iran against further attacks.
“We totally control, we own, in the true sense, we own the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump told Fox News’ Alexis McAdams ahead of remarks in Nassau County, New York. “We only allow boats to come in if we want them to come in.”
Trump said the blockade is costing Tehran “hundreds of millions of dollars every single day” and argued sweeping U.S. sanctions are also squeezing the regime.
“If they hit, we would hit back 100 times harder,” Trump warned.
Asked whether the conflict stretching close to the midterm elections concerned him politically, Trump pointed to gasoline prices and his push to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“They cannot have nuclear weapons. It’s very simple,” Trump said.
“We have a blockade that is like a wall of steel,” he added. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”
Canada announced sanctions Friday against five Iranian officials it accused of helping obstruct navigation rights in and around the Strait of Hormuz and undermining international peace and security.
The sanctions target senior Iranian officials, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Global Affairs Canada.
The Canadian government said those targeted were involved in military, legal and communications activities connected to threats against the strategic waterway.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a key shipping route, making navigation rights in and around the waterway a focus of Canada's latest sanctions action.
Canada said it plans to continue coordinating with allies and partners to uphold navigation rights under international law and support efforts to stabilize the strait when conditions permit.
As tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain unsettled more than five months since the start of the war, the number of ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz appears to be far below pre-conflict levels.
"Traffic remains well below normal levels, with AIS-detected transits approximately 90% below pre-conflict baselines and declining since the 24-26 Jun peak," a United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) voluntary reporting area overview noted.
The trade intelligence company Kpler reported in part of a Friday post on X that "Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz picked up on 13 August, with 13 confirmed crossings, a 44% day on day increase from nine. Of these, nine vessels used the Iranian Unilateral Scheme, none were confirmed on the Hormuz TSS and four routes remained undetermined."
International Chamber of Shipping Marine Director John Stawpert told Fox News Digital on Friday that while "traffic is significantly lower," compared to before the war started, "it's not completely stopped."
"Essentially, what we see is a cyclical process," Stawpert said, explaining that when a ceasefire is announced there is an "uptick" in vessels entering and exiting the Persian Gulf, but "as those ceasefires break down ... you'll see that drop off again."
He also noted there is still a mine threat in the waters, which has an impact on how much traffic can enter and exit the Persian Gulf.
This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg.
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President Donald Trump said Friday that the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for more than 260 days and has supported Operation Epic Fury, is “being replaced with another very similar ship.”
Trump made the remark after being asked about conditions onboard the aircraft carrier.
"That ship is moving right now or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship,” the president said.
Trump added that the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln has gone on “not nearly long enough.”
U.S. Central Command on Thursday had pushed back on reports about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its deployment to the Middle East, denying claims that sailors had died in a brawl or that the carrier had experienced a spike in suicidal ideation.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also addressed reports about conditions aboard the aircraft carrier Thursday, saying they had been "completely misrepresented."
"We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment," Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama. "Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls, it's incredible."
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the U.S. military is preparing to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln with the USS George Washington.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this post.
Two slicks have appeared in Iranian waters in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, a report said Friday, citing satellite images.
One slick has emerged off the southern tip of Qeshm Island, according to Reuters. A researcher from the Dutch peace organization PAX told the news agency that the dark color in parts of that slick indicated it is heavy fuel oil.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said this week on X that “In recent days, videos have circulated showing oil pollution along the shores of Qeshm Island.
“This pollution drifted toward the coast from the Persian Gulf, and preliminary evidence indicates a foreign bulk carrier as the source. Contamination has been documented at three coastal sites and across portions of the sea surface,” he added.
Samir Madani, co-founder of monitoring service TankerTrackers.com, said the Qeshm Island slick likely originated from a leak from the Minoan Pioneer, a dry bulk ship that was hit by an unknown projectile during a suspected Iranian attack in the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 3, according to Reuters.
Another slick was seen off Sirri island in the Persian Gulf, a location that houses Iranian offshore oil and gas production, Reuters also reported.
Reuters contributed to this post.
U.S. Central Command announced that as of Friday, the ongoing U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports has redirected 62 commercial ships.
The effort also disabled three ships, while two were boarded to ensure compliance, according to CENTCOM.
CENTCOM made the announcement as it shared a photo of a U.S. sailor directing an “MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter during nighttime flight operations aboard guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton,” as the ship sailed in the Arabian Sea and enforced the blockade.
{{#rendered}}U.S. Central Command released photos Friday showing U.S. sailors and Marines conducting “maintenance on a MH-60S Sea Hawk on the flight deck of USS Boxer” while deployed in the Middle East.
The USS Boxer is one of the American warships enforcing a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports during Operation Epic Fury.
The U.S. Navy says MH-60S Seahawk missions “include surface warfare, maritime interdiction operations, personnel recovery, special warfare support, search and rescue, medical evacuation, vertical replenishment, logistics, non-combat evacuation, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, and airborne mine countermeasures.”
CENTCOM said as of Wednesday, the renewed blockade has redirected 59 commercial vessels.
Iran's possible election to a major United Nations (U.N.) committee with influence on the shaping of policy concerning human rights, women's rights, and counterterrorism is "Orwellian," the head of a U.N. watchdog group says.
In November, the U.N. General Assembly is slated to vote on whether to admit Iran to the Committee for Programme and Coordination, a 34-member body whose member states serve three-year terms. The upcoming vote is widely expected to pass as a formality.
The committee doesn't draft human rights treaties or issue condemnations of human rights abuses, but plays an influential administrative role in how human rights initiatives are executed across the U.N. system.
The U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) nominated Iran in April despite Tehran’s documented history of systematic human rights abuses, strict crackdowns on women’s rights, mass surveillance and lethal force against political dissenters.
Global bodies also consider Tehran a leading state sponsor of terrorism that funds proxy militant groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. In addition, Tehran has attacked neighboring Gulf states in recent months amid a war with the United States.
"It's the last government in the world that should have any influence," Hillel Neuer, executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, told Fox News Digital.
"Sadly, at the United Nations today — an organization founded after World War II out of great idealism to bring international peace — it is a case of the lunatics running the asylum," Neuer added. "You have the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that beats, blinds, tortures, rapes, and imprisons women for standing up for their rights or showing a few strands of hair."
Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain issued statements Friday condemning an Iranian attack on two tankers affiliated with the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned energy company as they transited the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the Iranian attack targeting two UAE oil tankers belonging to [the] Abu Dhabi National Oil Company that were crossing the Strait of Hormuz, considering it a severe violation of international law, the freedom of maritime navigation, and a clear violation of UN Security Council resolution 2817.”
The resolution, signed adopted in March, condemns Iran’s "egregious attacks" against its regional neighbors in the Middle East, according to the U.N.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs renews the State of Qatar's firm rejection of using the Strait of Hormuz as leverage, calling in that regard on reopening the strait without conditions,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry added.
Kuwait said it offered “full solidarity with the sisterly United Arab Emirates, and its standing by its side in all measures it takes to protect its security, sovereignty, and interests.”
Egypt said the attack “constitutes a threat to the security and safety of maritime navigation and the freedom of vessel movement in one of the world's most vital international waterways,” the Strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain's Foreign Ministry also said it "stressed the need for the U.N. Security Council to assume its responsibilities in taking firm and deterrent measures to compel Iran to immediately cease all hostile acts, respect freedom of navigation, and ensure the safety and security of commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and other international waterways, and not to use the Strait as a tool for pressure or economic blackmail, considering this a fundamental necessity for preserving energy security and the stability of food and medicine supplies, ensuring the flow of global trade, and consolidating security, stability and prosperity in the region and the world."
{{#rendered}}Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar told U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Natalie A. Baker in Islamabad on Friday that the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran is the “only way forward” as a ceasefire is set to expire, Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The June 17 memorandum that Pakistan helped mediate established a 60-day window for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, sanctions and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
An existing ceasefire is set to expire on August 17. There have been conflicting reports this week about the U.S. and Iran engaging with mediators to extend the deadline.
“DPM/FM appreciated the positive trajectory in Pakistan-U.S. relations and underscored the importance of dialogue and diplomacy for lasting peace,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “He emphasized that the implementation of the Islamabad MoU... in letter and spirit is the only way forward. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to regional peace and security while safeguarding its national interests.”
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Morgan Phillips contributed to this post.
The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) said Friday that vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz “remains significantly reduced” as nearly two dozen ships have reported being struck by projectiles in the area since July 6.
“Despite a brief recovery in late June, vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains significantly reduced, AIS transit information suggests operators increasingly favoring the Northern route following projectile attacks, ongoing security concerns, and heightened enforcement activity,” the UKMTO said in a report issued Friday, referencing an Iran-controlled northern route through the waterway.
The report said the “Southern Omani route remains the highest-risk corridor, accounting for 16 of 18 projectile strike incidents reported by UKMTO since 6 Jul.”
“Behavioral change evident amongst shipping, with multiple vessels aborting planned transits or rerouting North following attacks, indicating risk avoidance rather than route substitution alone,” it continued.
The UKMTO also said overall, there have been “20 UKMTO-reported projectile strike incidents since 6 Jul 2026, resulting in bridge, engine-room, and structural damage across vessels operating in and around the Strait of Hormuz.”
The United Arab Emirates on Thursday said Iran attacked two of its vessels as they transited the Strait of Hormuz, blasting Tehran for what it called “flagrant” maritime violations.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two vessels were affiliated with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), a state-owned energy company and one of the largest oil producers in the world.
The vessels were targeted in “unprovoked attacks,” the ministry said. No injuries were reported.
Citing U.N. Security Council Resolution 2817, the ministry described the attacks as acts of piracy by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The resolution, adopted in March, demanded that Iran halt strikes against Arab Gulf states and shipping lanes.
“The Ministry emphasized that targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, and constitutes a direct threat to the stability of the region, its peoples, and global energy security,” the agency said.
UAE officials further urged Iran to commit to the complete and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and called for the immediate “cessation of all hostilities.”
{{#rendered}}U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Thursday pushed back on reports about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its deployment to the Middle East, denying claims that sailors had died in a brawl or that the carrier had experienced a spike in suicidal ideation.
“CLAIM: Over the past 48 hours, multiple media outlets have reported several false claims related to USS Abraham Lincoln's (CVN 72) deployment to the Middle East,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “One report alleged seven Sailors died in a brawl aboard the aircraft carrier and others have recently suggested a spike in suicidal ideations.”
"These reports are FALSE," CENTCOM said.
The command pointed to the carrier's crew reenlistment rate, saying the USS Abraham Lincoln has "maintained among the highest crew reenlistment rates (84.4%) of all aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy."
“The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended,” CENTCOM said.
"No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died, and the one Sailor who fell overboard Aug. 3 was quickly and safely recovered," the statement continued. "The rampant misreporting on Abraham Lincoln's historic deployment is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones."
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also addressed reports about conditions aboard the aircraft carrier Thursday, saying they had been "completely misrepresented."
"We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment," Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama. "Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls, it's incredible."
Yesterday's Fox News Digital live blog offers additional coverage of the conflict with Iran.
Live Coverage begins here