Iran's top security official rejects US claim of authority over Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN, Iran — The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, has pushed back against U.S. assertions of authority over the Strait of Hormuz, saying Washington cannot claim sovereignty over a waterway it cannot even open. In a social media post, Rezaei wrote, "Welcome to the post-American order in the Gulf," and pointed to the roughly 7,000-mile distance between the U.S. capital and the strait as evidence that Washington lacks the capacity to control it. Rezaei's remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump raised the idea of declaring the Strait of Hormuz "a U.S.-owned area" and said Washington had "complete control" over the shipping lane. The comments added a new point of friction between the two countries, which have been at odds over Iran's nuclear program and regional influence. The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Defense Department has been weighing options to reduce its military footprint in the Gulf, including potentially shifting forces to Jordan, Israel or Saudi Arabia. No further details on Iran's response were immediately available.