I think we could say that the claim is not a hypothesis because the argument never sets out to prove it. Generally speaking, a hypothesis is a statement which one intends to prove or support. More importantly, we should focus on what kind of hypothesis A and E claim the statement is.
The Claim is certainly not something the argument provides reasons to think it is false, so A is incorrect. And, The author never says that the claim is not supported by enough evidence, so E is correct. The "Label" that the answer choices give to the claim is far less important than the role in the argument each describes.