A senior Iranian lawmaker criticized Donald Trump on Sunday in response to the U.S. president’s recent threat to take control of the Strait of Hormuz. The lawmaker suggested that Trump should prioritize his own security instead of making what he termed ‘endless bluffs.’ This comment followed reports that Trump had been evacuated in a catering truck while leaving Turkey the previous month, amid credible threats of assassination from Iran.
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. Trump had arrived in Turkey on a Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar and was publicly observed boarding the aircraft.
“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.
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. “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.
