President Donald Trump floated joint control of the Strait of Hormuz and suggested he didn’t know who was currently leading Iran when responding to a reporter on Monday morning.
Trump spoke to journalists on the tarmac of Palm Beach International Airport as he departed Florida after spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago and was asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins who was in control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The President answered that the Strait would be open ‘real soon’ if a deal he’s teased with Iran works.
‘It’ll be jointly controlled,’ he said of the waterway.
When asked who would be jointly controlling it, Trump added, ‘maybe me, maybe me.’
‘Me and the ayatollah, whoever the ayatollah is, whoever the next ayatollah [is.],’ the President continued.
Trump then argued that no matter what, Iran’s next leader would represent ‘regime change.’
‘There’s automatically a regime change,’ the President added.
President Donald Trump floated joint control of the Strait of Hormuz and suggested he didn’t know who was currently leading Iran when responding to a reporter on Monday morning
Smoke plumes out of an oil tanker on the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war. Trump suggested the major shipping passageway could be ‘jointly controlled’ by the US and ‘whoever the ayatollah is’
Leaders of Iran’s Islamic Republic named Mojtaba Khamenei the new Supreme Leader after his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first day of Israeli and US strikes.
But Trump confirmed that it’s not Khamenei who the US is negotiating with.
‘We have not heard from the son,’ he told reporters. ‘We don’t know if he’s living.’
Instead the President teased that a Iran ceasefire deal was being worked out with somebody very ‘respected.’
‘We’re dealing with some people that I find very reasonable, very solid, the people within know who they are, they’re very respected, and maybe one of them will be exactly what we’re looking for,’ Trump said.
‘Look at Venezuela how well that’s working out,’ he added.
After the US’s January capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration left Maduro’s No. 2, Delcy Rodríguez, in charge.
A replacement of the ayatollah with another religious cleric would not appease the pro-democracy protesters who have taken to Iran’s streets in recent months – and whom Trump pledged to help before starting strikes on February 28.
President Donald Trump threatened to blow up Iranian power plants on Saturday night if Iran didn’t free up the Strait of Hormuz (pictured) but on Monday morning said he’d hold off on such an attack, due to negotiations proceeding
Axios reported Monday that Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in touch with the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, according to an Israeli source.
Trump hasn’t identified the Iranian official talking to the US, for fear it would get him killed.
‘We are dealing with a man that I believe is the most respected,’ Trump said.
The Israeli source also told Axios that mediating countries were trying to convene a meeting this week in Islamabad, Pakistan, with Ghalibaf and other officials representing the Iranians.
Witkoff, Kushner and possibly Vice President JD Vance would represent the American side, the source told Axios.
Vance doubled down on his support for the war last Monday after previously condemning American adventurism in the Middle East.
The President’s comments Monday morning marked a notable change in tone from the threat he made on Truth Social Saturday night, saying he would start striking Iranian power plants if the country didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz.
He called that threat off Monday morning due to the progress made with negotiations.
President Donald Trump (left) talked about the Iran war with reporters before boarding Air Force One on Monday morning
The Saturday night threat to blow up Iranian power plants over the Strait of Hormuz also marked a departure from how he said he viewed the issue Friday when departing the White House.
Trump shrugged off Iran’s chokehold on the Strait, saying the US didn’t ‘use’ it.
‘We don’t use the Strait,’ he said. ‘The United States, we don’t need it. Europe needs it. Korea, Japan, China, a lot of other people.’
‘So, they’ll have to get involved a little bit on that one,’ Trump said.
The President has also insisted that he’s not ‘putting troops anywhere’ despite reports saying that the Pentagon has prepared such plans.
A new Daily Mail/JL Partners poll showed Trump with the lowest approval rating since his second term started.
Registered voters said they were concerned about Trump’s handling of the Middle East and inflation, as gas prices have spiked in the three weeks since the war began.
