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 incredible quote because, you know, we are supposed to take the president of the United States' word, especially when he makes these really serious threats in an ongoing war," Kim said. "But what the president or what, sorry, what the speaker seems to be signaling, and we should note that the speaker has met with the president several times this week to talk about other issues, but I'm sure the issue of the war came up."
"He's signaling that this is sort of this, you know, three-dimensional chess negotiation 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 do need to underscore how serious of a move that would be, particularly on Kharg Island, because if, you know, aside from the reason why it's such a critical target, obviously being where all, nearly all of the oil exports go through, it's also very close to the mainland," Kim said. "So if you do have American troops there, it makes them very vulnerable to missiles, drone, other attacks from the Iranian mainland, and that is what the president is hinting at in his Fox interview, that this is something that the Americans would not have the stomach for."
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