A senior Iranian official claimed Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz was "under Iran's control and management," according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
The remarks by the head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit, Hossein Taeb, came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the U.S. had "total control" of the strategic waterway.
Taeb said the United States had sought to disrupt what he described as the Islamic Republic's popularity in the region by launching another war in the Strait of Hormuz, but had once more been defeated despite claiming Iran had neither an air force nor a navy.
"Today you see that the Strait of Hormuz is under the management and control of the Islamic Republic," Taeb said, adding that Iran was continuing on its course in complete security.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump claimed that the United States was in control of Hormuz and will "keep it."
"The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, 'A WALL OF STEEL,' and there is nothing Iran can do about it."
Trump has repeatedly claimed the U.S. controls the strait, which is vital for the flow of energy and other commodity shipping through the Middle East.
Iran, however, says it effectively controls much of the waterway and intends to impose a toll system in response to the U.S. war launched by Trump on Feb. 28.
Late Tuesday, Trump told reporters: "We have total control over the Hormuz Strait right now. They don't have control. We have total control. We own it."
U.S. and Israeli forces have heavily bombed Iran's military and killed a swath of the country's leadership so far in the nearly six-month war, launched initially with goals including forcing Tehran to abandon its nuclear power program and regime change.
Iran has resisted with missile attacks on U.S. bases in the region, Israel and targets in U.S.-allied Gulf countries.
Its most effective response has been to strike shipping in Hormuz, effectively snarling the trade route, rattling the world economy.
With his political popularity sinking at home ahead of the November midterm congressional elections, Trump has backed off threats to escalate the war in search of a decisive victory.
That leaves the war in a standoff.
However, the Republican says that the United States is prepared to focus on blockading Iranian ports in a strategy that he told Axios was "low-keying."
"We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money," Trump told Axios Sunday.
Environmental damage
Meanwhile, Iran on Wednesday justified plans to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz by citing environmental damage caused by maritime traffic in the strategic waterway.
Decades of pollution in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman had caused trillions of dollars in damage in Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on X.
Countries and companies benefiting from shipping through the strait had a legal and moral obligation to help address the environmental damage, he said, adding that environmental protection should be central to any future management of the waterway.
He gave no explanation of what environmental measures Iran was proposing.
Baghaei cited a recent oil spill along the coast of Iran's Qeshm island in the strait, saying initial findings indicated that a foreign cargo ship was responsible.
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, effectively blocked by Iran, has become a key issue in the conflict between Tehran and Washington. Iran says it wants to impose a transit fee in coordination with Oman, the strait's other coastal state. The United States has strongly rejected the idea.
Environmental groups have warned that the conflict has increased the risk of ships being damaged or hit. On Wednesday, it emerged that oil from a tanker that ran aground off Oman and is linked to Russia's so-called shadow fleet had reached the Omani mainland.
Greenpeace says the Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding waters contain sensitive ecosystems including coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows. An oil spill could also threaten the water supply of millions of people, as many Gulf states rely heavily on desalination plants.