Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to “pulverize” Oman, an ally of the United States, apparently confusing the sultanate in the Arabian Peninsula with Iran, writes AFP.
The US president also confused Iran with Venezuela during the same public speech at a White House cabinet meeting.
“We will monitor the area, but no one will control it (the Strait of Hormuz). This is part of the negotiations we are having. They (the Iranians, no) would like to control it. No one will control it. It is international waters, and Oman will behave like the others or we will have to pulverize them,” he threatened.
He responded as follows when asked about possible future control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz by Oman and Iran, a scenario he rejected.
The strait will remain “open to all,” the Republican president promised.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's statement on Oman, Reuters reports. The Omani embassy in Washington also did not respond to a similar request.
The 79-year-old billionaire also said during the televised cabinet meeting that the US economy remains thriving “despite the conflict with Venezuela, which has no navy, no air force”.
The White House leader routinely uses that description — of a militarily destroyed country — to refer to Iran.
This is not the first time that Donald Trump has confused the names of countries.
For example, he already talked about Albania instead of Armenia or mentioned Iceland instead of Greenland.
