Donald Trump has a new strategy for the Strait of Hormuz. He just cannot spell it.
In a Wednesday Truth Social post, the president floated the idea of walking away from the strait entirely once the bombing stops, leaving allied nations to sort out the waterway themselves.
“I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?'” he wrote, putting quotation marks around a word he had already gotten wrong.
He later deleted and reposted with the correct spelling. The damage, however, was already done.
Among other things, President Trump misspelled the Strait of Hormuz as “Straight” this morning before reposting with the correct spelling. pic.twitter.com/3XljTa5zOd
— Taylor Popielarz (@TaylorPopielarz) March 18, 2026
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The spelling was the least of it. What Trump was actually suggesting is that after three weeks of bombing, the U.S. might simply walk away and let allies deal with a waterway that carries a fifth of the world’s oil supply. The same allies he spent last week publicly begging for warships. The same allies he declared this week he never needed.
Speaking alongside Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Tuesday, Trump told reporters the U.S. does not need “any help” from allies, before adding, “despite the fact that we help them so much, they don’t want to help us, which is amazing.” He also described the whole episode as a “test,” which appeared to be a characterization invented on the spot.
Trump on NATO countries
They don’t want to help us, which is amazing. I mean amazing. This was a great test.He set the trap and they fell into it. He now has the perfect excuse to claim NATO is of no use to America if he withdraws that will be the end of NATO pic.twitter.com/AHKufeGD5U
— 🇬🇧THE BLOODY RED QUEEN / off with their head’s. (@daisycossie) March 18, 2026
The contradiction that follows this administration everywhere showed up again on Wednesday.
While Trump insists publicly, he needs nobody, press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News the same morning that Trump, Rubio, and Hegseth “continue to be in touch with their counterparts in Europe and of course our allies in Arab and gulf region for their help in securing the Strait of Hormuz.” One message for the cameras. A different one for the phone calls.
Leavitt also argued that reopening the strait benefits allied nations more than America since the U.S. exports oil. True, technically. Less true when American consumers are watching gas prices climb every time they pull into a station, which they have been doing since February 28.
NATO allies have not shifted. France said no. Germany ruled it out. Britain gave carefully worded non-answers. The alliance Trump has spent years threatening and belittling declined, collectively, to join a war they had no hand in starting.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
