President Donald Trump said last week that after defeating Iran, he would declare the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States.

I understand the instinct behind the statement. Iran has turned one of the world’s most important waterways into a weapon. It has threatened ships, disrupted energy supplies, and used the strait to extract political and economic concessions.

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But the U.S. cannot secure Hormuz by renaming it or claiming ownership of it.

WHAT IF NETANYAHU SURRENDERED? ISRAEL’S REAL CRIME IS REFUSING TO DIE

Declarations do not control waterways. Ships, intelligence, logistics, military readiness, and credible consequences do.

Trump says Iran is suffering a crushing defeat. Yet Tehran is not acting like a government preparing to surrender. Iranian officials said on Aug. 11 that Hormuz would remain closed until Washington ended the war, lifted sanctions and its blockade, released frozen Iranian assets, and compensated Iran for damages.

Those demands reveal Tehran’s real strategy. Iran does not need to defeat the United States in a conventional war. It only needs to keep the conflict going long enough to raise energy prices, exhaust American patience, divide Washington from its allies, and frighten shipping companies away from the Persian Gulf.

In other words, Iran is betting that time is on its side.

The economic stakes are enormous. Before the war, nearly 20........

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