A senior Iranian lawmaker on Sunday mocked Donald Trump over the latter’s threat to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz, advising the US president to focus on his own security rather than issue what the lawmaker called “endless bluffs.” He also referenced reports that Trump had been evacuated in a catering truck when leaving Turkey the previous month following a credible Iranian assassination threat.
Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the comments in a social media post one day after Trump declared that the US Navy was enforcing a complete blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and indicated that the United States might assert territorial control over the waterway following a victory over 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” remark referred to a reported security operation during Trump’s departure from Ankara following the NATO summit in July. Trump had arrived in Turkey on a Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar and was publicly observed boarding the aircraft.
However, according to a Washington Post report, he was later transferred to a smaller C-32A military aircraft after being driven across the airport in a catering truck.
The larger aircraft is said to have functioned as a decoy, leading journalists and certain White House staff members to initially assume the president was on board.
Trump subsequently confirmed that he had been transferred from Air Force One in Ankara on the recommendation of the Secret Service and the U.S. military, though specifics regarding the alleged Iranian threat remain unverified in public sources.
While addressing an audience in New York the previous day, Trump stated that he intends to designate the Strait of Hormuz as United States “territory,” amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
He informed supporters that the United States would shortly assert control over the strategically critical waterway, which carries a substantial portion of global oil, natural gas, and fertiliser shipments.
“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.
