Trump's Former Counterterrorism Chief Says Trump Can Declare 'Victory' Over Iran, Use Sanctions Relief to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump ‘s former counterterrorism chief, Joe Kent, hailed the announcement that the U.S. would halt strikes on Iran, saying the move could open the door to movement of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

US Can’t Use Military Force to Reopen Strait of Hormuz In a post on the social media platform X on Sunday, Kent said calling off the strikes was a “good decision” because it was clear that “Iran will not simply return” to the way the Strait of Hormuz was before the war.

He also said that it was clear that Trump wanted out of the Iran war.

Read Also: Hunter Biden Says Trump Is Making 'Big Oil' Great Again as Chevron, Exxon Mobil Profits Soar—Gavin Newsom Says CVX Is 'Fleecing Californians' “We need to accept that we can’t use military force to open the SOH [Strait of Hormuz] (we’ve tried that) without a catastrophic escalation into a bloody, years-long war,” Kent said.

The former counterterrorism official then said that it was time for Trump to “pull our troops out of the region.” Kent said that Trump “can declare victory” over Iran by reiterating the goal of stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Trump can then “quietly use the carrot of sanctions relief” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once the troops are pulled “out of harm’s way.” Kent also said that the U.S. risked “accelerating an escalation/retaliation cycle” it cannot control if it stayed.

President Trump again called off strikes on Iran—this is a good decision.

It is clear that he wants out of this war, for all the obvious reasons.

It is also clear that Iran will not simply return the SOH to how it was before the war.

We need to accept that we can’t use… pic.twitter.com/5Nft8d4xFC — Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) August 2, 2026 Uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz remains one of the critical aspects casting a shadow of uncertainty over the global oil supply chain.

Notably, the Strait of Hormuz was responsible for over a fifth of the world’s total oil supply before the war began in February this year, transporting roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day.

Read Also: Pete Hegseth Touts Department of War Readiness Not Seen Since World War 2 as Trump Halts 'Massive Attack' on Iran: 'Locked and Loaded' Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis had also struck Saudi Arabian assets along the Red Sea coast amid the U.S.-Iran war, causing further strain on oil and ultimately, gas prices.

GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said that de-escalation between the U.S. and Iran was the only way consumers could see relief at the pump.

Oil Falls Despite Shipping Incident The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) on Sunday reported an incident that occurred approximately 23 miles Northeast off the coast of Khasab, Oman, when an explosion was heard close to a vessel in the area.

The vessel, as well as the crew, were reported safe, UKMTO said.

UKMTO ADVISORY 103-26 Click here to view the full product⤵️ #MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/BgvduEUF0V — UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) August 2, 2026 Meanwhile, Trump’s announcement about halting the strikes has resulted in oil prices across the board reporting sharp declines.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude reported a 5.78% decline to $79.78/bbl at press time, while the Brent crude also fell 4.73% to $83.77/bbl at the time of writing this article.

Gas prices also recorded a decline as the national average gas price on Monday was $4.0950/gallon, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).

However, California’s average price of $5.6590/gallon on Monday was up from Sunday’s $5.6550/gallon average.

On the other hand, Oil ETF United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO ) shares were down 5.76% to $121.74 during premarket trading on Monday.

Read Also: Peter Schiff Points to Trump's 'Lowest Ever' Approval Ratings Amid Soaring Inflation, Iran War — Odds Of Impeachment Remain High on Prediction Markets Check out more of Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

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