Donald Trump may be set to give the Strait of Hormuz the Kennedy Center treatment after suggesting he would rename it for himself during a speech.
The president was speaking at the Saudi-backed Future Investment Initiative Priority investment forum in Miami on Friday when he made the tongue-in-cheek reference.
Trump was talking about how any peace deal with Iran would have to come with a reopening of the vital waterway, which is currently being blocked by Tehran amid the ongoing conflict with the US.
‘We’re negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up. They have to open up the Strait of Trump – I mean Hormuz,’ he quipped.
The comment prompted laughter from the audience, which included two of his children, several key advisors and wealthy executives.
‘Excuse me, I’m so sorry,’ he added. ‘Such a terrible mistake. The Fake News will say, “He accidentally said” no, there’s no accidents with me, not too many.’
Trump has so far renamed several buildings in Washington after himself during his second term.
He also talked about how he had ordered the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America’ shortly after returning to power.
Donald Trump suggested he may be set to give the Strait of Hormuz the Kennedy Center treatment after naming it for himself during a speech in Miami on Friday
The president was discussing how any peace deal with Iran would have to come with a reopening of the waterway which is currently being blocked amid the war with Iran
Trump, 79, also insisted that Tehran is ready to make a deal despite its denials and said that talks are underway to negotiate an end to the monthlong conflict.
He added that Iran was ‘on the run’ and reiterated assertions that Tehran’s leadership, navy, air force and nuclear program had all suffered significant damage.
During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump said it was ‘an option’ to take control of Iran’s oil as the United States has effectively done with Venezuela, despite the fact that the war is still raging.
Trump, who rose to fame as a property tycoon with his name plastered across his own skyscrapers, made similar teasing comments before renaming Washington’s Kennedy arts center the ‘Trump-Kennedy Center.’
A peace institute in Washington was also renamed after Trump last year.
The Strait of Hormuz was open to international shipping before the conflict, but the narrow waterway has since ground to a standstill, leading to a surge in global energy prices.
Earlier Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced alarm that Iran would seek to establish a permanent ‘tolling system’ for vessels in the strait, through which one fifth of global oil normally transits.
Rubio struck a softer tone, saying the US would seek international cooperation on a plan to keep the strait open after hostilities end.
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The president was speaking at the Saudi-backed FII Priority investment forum
Trump, who rose to fame as a property tycoon with his name plastered across his own skyscrapers, made similar teasing comments before renaming Washington’s Kennedy arts center the ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’
Earlier Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced alarm that Iran would seek to establish a permanent ‘tolling system’ for vessels in the strait, through which one fifth of global oil normally transits
Trump, as part of an evolving rhetorical approach, warned as recently as last week that the US would ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if the waterway was not reopened within 48 hours, though he has extended that deadline until April 6.
Rubio emerged from discussions with fellow diplomats with a longer-term message about the conclusion of the war and said the US and allies will face a challenge in keeping the strait open.
He cautioned that Iran may seek to set up a toll on the waterway, where 20 percent of the world’s oil typically passes, an act that he said could cause significant economic damage to many nations around the globe.
‘Not only is this illegal, it’s unacceptable. It’s dangerous to the world,’ Rubio said. ‘And it’s important that the world have a plan.’
Trump has complained that other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries were not stepping up to help against Iran.
‘We are very disappointed with NATO because NATO has done absolutely nothing,’ Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
A smartphone screen displaying the MarineTraffic map shows a high concentration of ship beacons in the Strait of Hormuz in Creteil, France, on March 27, 2026
Of the G7 nations, besides the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy are members of the trans-Atlantic military alliance. Japan is the only one that is not.
‘We’re there to protect NATO, to protect them from Russia. But they’re not there to protect us,’ Trump added.
Rubio, however, said the US is ‘not asking for anybody to join the war’ against Iran but that the countries most affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz ‘should be willing to do something about it, and we’ll help them’ after the conflict ends.
