Mike Johnson's 'incredible' response to new Trump threat floors White House reporter

A White House reporter drew attention to an "incredible quote" from House Speaker Mike Johnson regarding President Donald Trump's threats against Iran.

The president threatened on social media to take control of Kharg Island and seize Iran's oil and gas markets, which would require the deployment of ground troops, but the Louisiana Republican dismissed his comments as a negotiating tactic.

"I think he's communicating directly with our adversaries over there," Johnson told reporters. "I would not put too much stock in the details of that."

Associated Press correspondent Seung Min Kim was flabbergasted by the House speaker's statement.

"It's kind of an incrediblequote because, you know, we aresupposed to take the president of the United States'word, especially when he makesthese really serious threats in an ongoing war," Kim said. "But whatthe president or what, sorry,what the speaker seems to besignaling, and we should notethat the speaker has met withthe president several times thisweek to talk about other issues,but I'm sure the issue of thewar came up."

"He's signaling thatthis is sort of this, you know,three-dimensional chessnegotiation play," she added.

Invading the Persian Gulf island would represent a major escalation in the war, and the president acknowledged the political risk in a phone call Thursday morning to "Fox & Friends."

"We doneed to underscore how seriousof a move thatwould be, particularly on Kharg Island, because if, you know,aside from the reason why it'ssuch a critical target,obviously being where all,nearly all of the oil exports gothrough, it's also very closeto the mainland," Kim said. "So if you dohave American troops there, itmakes them very vulnerable tomissiles, drone, other attacksfrom the Iranian mainland, andthat is what the president ishinting at in his Fox interview,that this is something that the Americans would not have thestomach for."

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