A senior Iranian figure proclaimed Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until “criminal” President Donald Trump is removed from power — and a number of critics voiced support for the demand.
Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, a political adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said that the strait would remain closed until both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were removed from office, a demand that comes as traffic through the critical shipping waterway hit its “lowest level yet” and surging global oil prices break records.
“Our fighters will not open the Strait of Hormuz until they bring the criminal Trump and the bloodthirsty Netanyahu down from the seat of power,” Zolqadr said, CBS News reported Thursday.
With gas prices in the United States reaching unprecedented heights due to Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran — with “the worst still to come,” per The Washington Post — a number of Trump’s critics appeared to embrace Iran’s demands.
“Honestly, I'm down with this. F--- it,” wrote Ian Smith, a former GOP congressional candidate from New Jersey and fitness entrepreneur, in a social media post on X.
Dash Dobrofsky, a political commentator and writer, also embraced Iran’s terms for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, writing in a social media post on X to his nearly 200,000 followers: “Not gonna lie, this sounds like a great deal to me.”
Others flagged how Iran’s new demand was directly at odds with Trump’s oft-repeated insistence that Iran was “begging” to make a deal with his administration.
“Trump has said for (how many months now) that Iran is begging for a deal. Doesn't seem like it, by their actions, or their words,” wrote Chris Rossini, a senior fellow and media host at the Ron Paul Institute.
And Laura Robinson, a religious podcaster and scholar, quipped that it was “kinda cool” that Iran "believed" in Americans enough to remove Trump from power to make such a demand.
Iran just came out and said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are removed from power.
Not gonna lie, this sounds like a great deal to mehttps://t.co/nyuc7GSa3e
— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) September 17, 2026