Iran: Strait of Hormuz Stays Shut Until Trump, Netanyahu Are Out

Iran has hardened its position on the Strait of Hormuz, saying the waterway will stay shut until President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are out of power. The statement, carried by Iranian state media and WANA, escalates the rhetoric around a chokepoint that has already been disrupted for months.

What Iran actually said

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said in a message marking 200 consecutive days of public presence in the streets that Iran would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are removed from power.

Zolghadr framed the closure as “the first stage of the Iranian people’s revenge.” Zolghadr is the political advisor to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since replacing his father as Iran’s head of state after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Tehran.

Why the strait matters

The closure and disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have placed significant pressure on global energy markets, as the strategic waterway connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and serves as a principal route for international oil and gas shipments.

Any prolonged blockage historically forces re-routing, higher tanker rates, and a risk premium on crude. Crude prices dropped to a one-week low after reports that Saudi Arabia was moving oil through Oman, easing fears of supply disruptions in the Middle East.

Do you want to see how to make more plays? Do you want to find gains yourself?

Unusual Whales helps you find market opportunities through our market tide, historical options flow, GEX, and much, much more.

Create a free account here to start conquering the market with Unusual Whales.

Mixed signals from Tehran

The hardline demand does not appear to be a unified government position. While Zolghadr was issuing demands, Iran’s foreign minister was in Beijing telling the Chinese that Tehran doesn’t want the conflict to continue and hopes to get back to diplomacy.

A nearly identical “closed until the end of Trump’s term” claim went viral in August and got fact-checked into the ground, so this is one hardline faction making a threat, and nobody has signed anything.

The military backdrop

According to U.S. officials, Iran had shot down at least two U.S. MQ-1 unmanned planes recently, and the Iranian government had also taken credit for shooting down a number of other MQ-1s in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz.

Brigadier General Hassan Hassanzadeh, commander of the IRGC in Greater Tehran Province, said the Iranian Armed Forces had reached a higher level of readiness to answer any further attack, and were now better prepared than before what Iranian officials referred to as the “12-Day War” and the “Ramadan War.”

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch for continued volatility in energy and defense names as headlines from the region drive tape action:

• XOM and CVX: watch for crude sensitivity if any actual re-opening or further closure headlines hit.
• USO: the cleanest proxy for spot crude reaction to Hormuz risk headlines.
• LMT and RTX: defense primes tend to see flow on any escalation in U.S.-Iran military activity.
• FRO: tanker names react to rerouting and higher shipping rates around the Gulf.

Traders can track live positioning and unusual activity in these tickers via the Unusual Whales news feed.

Want more market intelligence? Create your free Unusual Whales account for options flow, market tide, GEX, and the full toolkit.