President Donald Trump said he believes the Strait of Hormuz will “automatically open” when the U.S. exits, he said in a phone interview with the New York Post on Tuesday.
“We’re not going to be there too much longer. We’re obliterating the s— out of them right now, it’s a total obliteration,” he told the Post.
Asked about the Wall Street Journal report that indicated he was considering ending the war without opening the Strait of Hormuz, Trump sidestepped but argued that the Strait will “automatically open” when the U.S. leaves Iran.
“I don’t think about it, to be honest,” Trump said, according to the NY Post. “My sole function was to make sure that they don’t have a nuclear weapon. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. When we leave the strait will automatically open.”
Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026.
Reuters
Trump continued to shrug off responsibility to other countries to open the Strait.
“Well, I think it’ll automatically open, but my attitude is, I’ve obliterated the country. They have no strength left, and let the countries that are using the strait, let them go and open it… because I would imagine whoever’s controlling the oil will be very happy to open the strait,” he said.
His remarks come despite his threats on Monday to bomb power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly, all of the country’s desalinization plants if the Strait of Hormuz did not “immediately” open.
“If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)” Trump wrote on social media.