A senior Iranian lawmaker mocked Donald Trump on Sunday over his threat to take control of the Strait of Hormuz, telling the US president to worry about his own safety instead of making what he described as “endless bluffs” while recalling reports that he was whisked away in a catering truck during his departure from Turkey last month after a credible Iranian assassination threat emerged
Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remarks in a social media post a day after Trump said the US Navy was maintaining a full blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and suggested that Washington could claim the strait as US territory after defeating Iran.
“The US President ought to worry about his own security rather than his endless bluffing regarding the Strait of Hormuz; before he ends up hiding in a food truck,” Ebrahim Azizi wrote on X.
Azizi's “food truck” jibe was a reference to a reported security operation during Trump's departure from Ankara after the NATO summit in July. Trump had arrived in Turkey aboard a Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar and was publicly seen boarding the aircraft.
However, according to a report by The Washington Post, Trump was later moved to a smaller C-32A military aircraft after being transported across the airport in a catering truck.
The larger aircraft reportedly served as a decoy, with journalists and some White House staff initially believing the president was aboard it.
Trump later confirmed that he had been moved off Air Force One in Ankara after the Secret Service and US military advised him to switch aircraft, although details of the reported Iranian threat have not been publicly established.
Trump, while speaking in New York a day earlier, said he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory” of the United States, as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to escalate.
Trump told supporters that the US would soon claim the strategically vital waterway, through which a significant share of the world's oil, natural gas and fertiliser supplies passes.
“Once we have completely defeated Iran, I will soon declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory,” Trump said, while claiming that the US Navy was maintaining a full blockade of the strait.
The remarks drew a sharp response from Iran, with Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi rejecting any suggestion that the waterway could be brought under US control.
The Strait of Hormuz, which separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the world's most critical energy corridors, carrying a significant share of global seaborne crude oil exports.
Gharibabadi said the strait “cannot be seized by a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an executive order or a campaign speech”, adding that Iran “neither fears threats nor can be intimidated by shows of force.”
A White House official, meanwhile, told US media that Trump was “joking” when he spoke about declaring the Strait of Hormuz US territory.
Source: India Today