Post Context

Trump made this same claim to reporters the day before this post, almost word for word: "We have total control over the Hormuz Strait right now. They don't have control. We have total control. We own it." Iran disagrees. Its foreign minister has said the strait is open to everyone except the US, Israel, and their allies, and the IRGC has separately claimed "complete control" of the passage. Tanker traffic data backs neither side's absolutist framing — traffic through the strait has fallen sharply since the war with Iran began in February, which is consistent with a contested waterway, not one either side fully controls. The US Navy's "counter-blockade" of Iranian ports is real and ongoing, resumed last month after Hellfire strikes on ships ignoring warnings.

The inflation line checks out, and even undersells it. Iran's CPI wasn't "300%" but the IMF put 2026 annual inflation at 68.9%, with point-to-point readings (a faster-moving measure) reported as high as 88.6% by mid-2026 — the worst since World War II by some accounts. The rial has also collapsed, from about 1.35 million to the dollar in January 2026 to roughly 1.9 million by July.

The claims about Iran's military being wiped out and its leadership "uncertain" are harder to verify independently — those come from Trump, not from an assessment you can check against Pentagon or Iranian sources here, and Iran has kept up drone and missile attacks throughout, which cuts against "no Air Force."

• Trump says U.S. has "total control" over Strait of Hormuz
• IMF: Iran inflation 68.9% in 2026
• 2026 United States naval blockade of Iran