President Donald Trump said on Friday that new pipelines and overland routes across the Middle East were reducing dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, warning that the waterway could become far less important. "A lot of alternatives are being made to the Hormuz Strait. The Hormuz Strait is not what it used to be," he told reporters [1]. Iran International carried the remarks.

Trump said pipelines were being built across the region so oil would not have to pass through the strait, and cited a route through Syria that he said was already being used by trucks carrying oil. "Iran is going to end up, if they don't get smart, really smart, with a Hormuz Strait that's not very necessary anymore," he said [1]. These are his own characterisations: the report provides no volumes, timelines, project names or independent confirmation of the Syria truck route, and no US agency statement backing the claim.

The comments came alongside a widening economic campaign. The Treasury Department said it had added Istanbul-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and its asset-management and leasing subsidiaries to the Specially Designated Nationals list, alleging they facilitated tens of millions of dollars in transactions for the IRGC-Quds Force and helped transfer oil revenues from China to Turkey for conversion into cash and gold. The bank rejected the allegations as unfounded and said it would pursue its legal rights. Reuters, cited by Iran International, reported this was the first time a bank in a NATO member state had been targeted under Operation Economic Outcast, launched on 24 August [1].

On diplomacy, Iran International reported that reports on Friday, including by the Financial Times, indicated mediators were working to establish a framework for possible fresh talks, after the Iranian and Omani foreign ministers discussed creating a temporary shipping corridor as a step toward a more permanent arrangement [1]. The outlet noted that Iran's restrictions on Hormuz traffic have turned the corridor into one of Tehran's main bargaining chips, and quoted Andreas Krieg of King's College London describing a Hormuz agreement as the most plausible route from direct confrontation toward broader negotiations [1].

None of this changes conditions in the waterway itself. The report offers no transit figures, no confirmation that any alternative route is operational at scale, and no official response from Tehran to Trump's remarks.