Washington, DC, July 12: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to commercial shipping, rejecting Iranian claims of control following recent US military operations in the region.

Speaking during an interview on NBC'sMeet the Press, Trump said diplomatic efforts with Iran had broken down after what he described as a promising round of negotiations. According to the President, Iranian representatives had agreed to major concessions, including abandoning nuclear and military ambitions, before the talks unraveled.

"We had meetings with them. They agreed to a deal yesterday. A perfect deal for us. No nuclear, no this, no that, no nothing. They gave up everything, and then after that, they left the room and then within an hour they launched a drone at a ship," Trump said.

Trump strongly criticised the Iranian leadership, calling them "very, very evil and sick people."

Addressing concerns over the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route, Trump maintained that maritime traffic continues to move through the waterway despite Iranian assertions to the contrary.

"It's open," Trump said. Referring to the US military response, he added, "We bombed the hell out of them last night."

His remarks came after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) rejected Iranian claims of authority over the strategic waterway. In a post on X, CENTCOM responded to statements by an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Navy commander, who had claimed that foreign vessels could not transit the Strait without being identified, tracked, and monitored by Iranian forces.

The Iranian commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Navy recently said on state-owned media that no foreign vessels may pass through the Strait of Hormuz without being identified, tracked, and monitored by Iranian forces.

Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. It remains an international waterway. U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to keep it that way, CENTCOM said.

Iran, however, reiterated its position, insisting that passage through the Strait of Hormuz remains closed despite CENTCOM's assertion that maritime traffic continues to flow through the critical shipping corridor.