Evidence

Multiple contemporaneous news outlets (The Korea Times, The Korea Herald, Al Jazeera) confirm that Donald Trump did make these exact remarks at a White House press availability, saying the Strait of Hormuz is open, that "the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the U.S. Navy," and that the Navy had swept the entire strait for mines, amid a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and Iran's demand for war reparations before reopening the strait. However, independent maritime data reporting from CNN Business and CNBC (citing Kpler, MarineTraffic, and JPMorgan data) directly contradicts the practical substance of the claim: vessel transits through the Strait fell to roughly 9-11 per day (versus ~100-130 before the war), an oil-market analyst told CNN the White House's flow figures could not be reconciled with observed shipping data, and CNBC reported a deadly attack on a ship in the Strait on August 18 even after Trump asserted all mines had been "removed or detonated." No dedicated fact-check verdict from Reuters Fact Check, AFP Fact Check, Bellingcat, or EUvsDisinfo specifically addressing this quote was found in search results.