President Donald Trump suggested on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz will become part of the U.S. after the war in Iran ends.

“After we finish defeating Iran,” he said at a rally before law enforcement members in Garden City, N.Y., “I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”

“We have the blockade,” he said, referring to a U.S. Naval blockade that the administration claims is ensuring safe passage through the waterway. “No ships get through unless we want them to.”

He suggested something similar on Wednesday on his social media platform Truth Social, writing that the U.S. has total control of the strait. “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT,” he said.

Iran disputes that the U.S. controls the strait. Traffic on the waterway also remains 90% below pre-conflict baselines, and has been falling since its peak this summer in June, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

Slowed oil and gas tanker traffic has spiked gas prices nationwide, which Trump acknowledged Friday. “You have to pay a little bit more, you’re at $4,” he said.

The national average price for a gallon of gas was just above $4 Friday, according to the American Automobile Association. Before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, it was $2.98.

Trump added that he will “never apologize” for the price spike. “I did the right thing,” he said.

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that ensuring that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon and bringing gas prices down are “equally as important to the president.”

That comment comes a day after Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that bringing down gas prices is now the number one goal of the war.

In early March, Trump told the nation the goal of the war was to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon, destroy the country’s missile capabilities, and cut off its support for terrorist proxies.