in brief
- Donald Trump suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself while escalating international tensions.
- Meanwhile, Canadians are actively protesting his recent executive order renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America".
US President Donald Trump has suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz as "Trump Strait" during his ongoing war with Iran — before implying he wasn't serious just hours later.
Trump has made a series of geographical name changes to international bodies of water in his second term, at least partly with the aim of provoking others.
The latest suggestion came as Trump insisted the US had full control of the crucial waterway, even as fresh clashes continued there with Iran.
"Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT??? Like America itself, it would be 'hotter' than ever before!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The White House later posted a map of the Gulf on social media with his suggested name, adding: "It's got a nice ring to it."
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Trump has repeatedly threatened in recent weeks to claim sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, even posting a map depicting the waterway as "new US territory".
Trump, however, later played down the idea of rebranding the Strait of Hormuz.
"It was just thrown out there," Trump said with a chuckle after an Agence-France Presse news agency reporter asked him if he was serious.
But a number of the 80-year-old Republican's previous suggestions were dismissed as humorous before they came to pass.
The battle for Lake Ontario
Last week Trump signed an order renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America" amid a trade war with neighbouring Canada, just days after apparently raising the idea in jest.
For local resident Liam Mooney, Lake Ontario will always be Lake Ontario. Now other Canadians who feel the same way can buy a baseball cap he's designed that pushes back at Trump's order.
It's not Mooney's first cap caper. Last year, the 40-year-old entrepreneur made a splash with a hat similar to the ubiquitous red cap of Trump's MAGA movement, emblazoned with the message "Canada is not for sale".
The move was inspired by Trump's repeated calls to make Canada the 51st US state. Sales soared after Ontario Premier Doug Ford wore it to a meeting with then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and other officials to discuss the brewing trade war with the United States.
Mooney began producing his new hat after Trump signed an executive order on the renaming. The new cap has "Lake Ontario" with a small maple leaf on the front and "Canada is not for sale" on the back.
"We've received several thousand orders at this time all around the world," Mooney told AFP. To him, the renaming is "absurd" and "extremely dangerous". Lake Ontario is "a shared responsibility" between the two countries and there should be mutual respect in how it is managed, he said.
Proceeds from hat sales will go to an organisation dedicated to protecting the lake, according to Mooney. Lake Ontario's name has an Indigenous origin, well before the province of Ontario in Canada was formed.
Canadian resistance and escalating trade tensions
The caps are part of a broader wave of patriotism in Canada in reaction to Trump's hostility.
On 21 August, Prime Minister Mark Carney broke off trade talks with Washington, accusing the White House of pushing an "unfair" agreement on Canada. Both sides subsequently hit out at each other with fresh tariffs, threatening an escalating standoff between the major trade partners.
At the start of his second term, Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America. Neither Mexico nor Canada have accepted the changes.
He has also renamed the Kennedy arts centre in Washington after himself, while the US Treasury issued $1 coins featuring Trump's face to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence on Wednesday.
A huge sign was erected Saturday on the shore of Lake Ontario, displaying that name with the words "Now and Always" in French and English.
"Let's be serious. Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. And long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario," Ontario premier Doug Ford said.
"But just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we've set up this sign to remind them it's Lake Ontario now and forever."
Iran war grinds on
The Iran war remains a deadly serious issue, with no sign of ending more than six months after the initial US-Israeli assault.
Fighting has flared again after weeks of calm, with US forces launching fresh strikes near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday in response to what Trump said were new mine-laying efforts by Iran.
Iran said one of the US strikes killed four people at a wedding, branding it a "war crime", and launched a wave of retaliatory strikes at US bases in Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq.
At home, Trump has presided over a steep rise in US fuel costs as a result of the war and his Republican Party looks likely to lose at least partial control of Congress in the November midterm elections.
Iran has effectively shut down the choke point, through which a fifth of the world's oil passes, in retaliation for the war Trump started along with Israel in late February.
Trump said on Wednesday that the United States was ready to attack Iran again — while adding that the renewed campaign would not last "too long."
"It was a very heavy attack last night, and we're prepared to do another one any time we want," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
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