President Donald Trump on Friday winkingly referred to the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil-shipping route and a key choke point in the Iran war, as the “Strait of Trump.”
Iran has to “open up the Strait of Trump — I mean, Hormuz,” the president said in a speech at the Future Investment Initiative in Miami, garnering laughs from the crowd.
“Excuse me. I’m so sorry. Such a terrible mistake,” he said, feigning apologetics before clarifying, “The fake news will say, ‘He accidentally said’ — No, there’s no accidents with me, not too many. If there were, we’d have a major story.”
The comment came as the strait has emerged as a key source of conflict in the war, which is poised to enter its second month even as the U.S. boasts that it has “obliterated” Iran’s military.
Iran’s continued ability to effectively block the strait — blocking the path that normally ferries 20 million oil barrels per day — has contributed to a historic disruption of global energy supply and prices.
On Monday, Trump floated the possibility that the strait could be controlled jointly by “me and the ayatollah” as part of a resolution to the war.
Trump has since said that Iran is negotiating with the U.S. and is “begging” to make a deal, though Tehran has denied that any direct talks are taking place.
The New York Post, citing sources, reported Friday evening that Trump is considering taking control of the strait and renaming it after himself, or calling it the “Strait of America,” as when he previously sought to relabel the Gulf of Mexico.
Friday’s “Strait of Trump” quip comes from a president who has famously made his own name a central feature of his branding as a businessman and real estate mogul.
It also echoes a Truth Social post from October, in which the president appeared to jokingly reference the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington using his own name.
The post included photos of renovations being done on the exterior of the building, with a caption praising “the new TRUMP KENNEDY, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, columns.”
In December, the White House announced that the Kennedy Center’s board voted to change its name to the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
Source: CNBC
--Agencies
