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'Don't Talk About It': Trump Tells Journalists to Stop Asking About Strait of Hormuz After Latest Closure
Despite the strait's closure, Trump insisted it was "open as far as we're concerned."
Jul 12, 2026
US President Donald Trump on Sunday twice told journalists to stop asking him about the status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran once again closed after the president declared an end to the ceasefire deal between the two countries.
The first instance came during an interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker, who pointed to conflicting statements from the Iranian government and US Central Command about the status of the strait, which is an essential shipping lane for global petroleum supplies.
Trump replied that "it's open, and I don't want to talk about it because I want to honor the life" of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died on Saturday from what his office described as "a brief and sudden illness."
"So I don't want to talk about it," Trump continued. "I told you that before the call."
WELKER: Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is closed. CENTCOM says it's open. Which is it?
TRUMP: It's open, and I don't want to talk about because I want to honor the life of Lindsey Graham, so I don't want to talk about it. I told you that before the call. pic.twitter.com/3ed7dN1bhK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2026
Shortly after, during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Trump was again asked whether the strait was still open.
"It's open as far as we're concerned," Trump told Tapper. "Don't talk about it. Talk about the reason you asked me to speak."
"Okay," Tapper replied. "We appreciate your time, sir."
TAPPER: Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed. Is that true?
TRUMP: It's open as far as we're concerned. Don't talk about it. Talk about the reason you asked me to speak. pic.twitter.com/TwssTycQdF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2026
Iran shut down shipping traffic in the strait after Trump launched an illegal war against the country in late February. The strait's closure resulted in spiking oil and gasoline prices, which coincided with further erosion in Trump's approval ratings.
Although traffic through the strait initially picked up in the wake of a June memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran, it has since slumped as the ceasefire between the two nations has fallen apart.
Ana Marie Cox, contributing editor at The New Republic, bashed both Welker and Tapper for heeding the president's requests and not pushing him to answer questions about the war he unlawfully started.
"Frankly astonished that supposed news sources agreed to terms to interview Trump and appeared to be deferential to them," Cox wrote in a social media post, "enough that they were apologetic in brining up other topics."
Cox's sentiment was echoed by Kai Ryssdal, host of NPR's Marketplace, who remarked that "the guy being interviewed doesn’t get to pick the questions."
Journalist Helen Kennedy challenged Trump's assertion that asking about the status of the Iran war was irrelevant when talking about Lindsey Graham.
"Making war with Iran was Lindsey Graham's favorite thing," Kennedy observed. "It's not like it's unrelated."
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‘No War Crimes Are Off Limits' as Trump Reportedly Mulling Bombing Targets in Venezuela
NBC reported Friday that the US military is considering options including drone strikes against drug cartel members within the South American country, prompting fears of escalation.
Sep 27, 2025
The Trump administration may strike alleged drug targets inside Venezuela's borders within weeks, sources familiar with the situation told NBC News on Friday.
Two US officials and two other sources with knowledge of the conversations that had taken place said that the US military was considering plans that could include drone strikes against members and leaders of drug trafficking groups as well as drug laboratories. If approved, the strikes would be a further escalation following three Trump administration attacks on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean that have killed at least 17 people, even though the administration has provided no evidence that those killed were actually smuggling drugs.
"More mass murder on the cards?" the news outlet Venezeulanaysis wrote in response. “NBC reports that the Trump administration is weighing strikes against 'drug targets' (emphasis on the air quotes) inside Venezuelan territory. Lots of speculation and anonymous sources, but it shows that no war crimes are off limits."
US President Donald Trump has already come under heavy criticism for authorizing boat strikes that many decry as illegal. Democratic lawmakers have moved to bar the president from authorizing further attacks, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for the United Nations to take criminal proceedings against the US president in a speech on Tuesday.
"This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent."
Now, observers are responding with alarm to the news that the administration might go even further.
El Pais correspondent Juan Diego Quesada wrote on social media that strikes within Venezuelan territory "would escalate the conflict to a level whose consequences I dare not measure."
"How would this not be considered an act of war?" asked poster Cindy Gossett. "Trump can't just claim Venezuelan citizens are drug lords therefore he's going to fly a drone over and destroy them. If Venezuela did the same in our country it wouldn't be accepted."
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said that the US had an “illegal and completely immoral military threat hanging over our heads."
Pinto also cast doubt on the notion that the Trump administration's true aim was to combat the drug trade.
He accused the US of trying to permit “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth" and said that the administration was using “vulgar and perverse lies” to “justify an atrocious, extravagant, and immoral multibillion-dollar military threat."
Trump has yet to authorize any particular plan, according to NBC. The Pentagon declined to comment on their report, and the White House referred the outlet to a previous statement from Trump: "We’ll see what happens. Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers, and drugs. It’s not acceptable.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denied that his administration has not done enough to prevent drug trafficking through the South American country, as Trump has accused.
Maduro sent a letter to the White House on September 6 calling for peace and dialogue and defending his record, noting that, according to a UN report, only 5% of the drugs that leave Colombia do so via Venezuela.
He wrote of the trafficking claims, "This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent."
Toward the end of the letter, he appealed to Trump to work with him to reduce tensions.
"President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful," Maduro wrote.
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As Trump Threatens News Outlets, Experts More Concerned About Capitulation of Corporate Owners
"The commercial news media, which helped elevate Trump to power, have proven repeatedly that they are ill-equipped to withstand such pressures," warned one scholar.
Aug 25, 2025
As US President Donald Trump late on Sunday lashed out against the American media and threatened to pull broadcasting licenses from networks for their alleged "biased" coverage of him, media experts said the danger to the news media lies partially in corporate outlets' potential capitulation to the Trump administration.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president railed against NBC and ABC, which he called "two of the absolute worst and most biased networks anywhere in the world."
He then said the networks should "lose their licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!!"
The president concluded his angry rant by declaring that "crooked 'journalism' should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!"
Trump did not point to any specifics regarding his claim that the networks' coverage of him is unfair, but asserted that they "give [him] 97% bad stories."
This is not the first time that Trump has called on the Federal Communications Commission to strip broadcasters' licenses for producing news he doesn't like, although so far no network has had its license revoked by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Even so, some experts were alarmed at Trump's latest attacks, which they feared could lead to more capitulation from major media corporations similar to the $16 million settlement that CBS parent company Paramount agreed to earlier this summer, which stemmed from what experts called a meritless lawsuits over a "60 Minutes" interview with 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, described the president's angry rants as "yet more worrying signs that Trump knows no limits in exerting dictatorial power over our news media."
"The commercial news media, which helped elevate Trump to power, have proven repeatedly that they are ill-equipped to withstand such pressures since they typically privilege their profit motives over democratic needs," he said. "Some individual journalists have shown much courage despite Trump's attacks, but the corporate media institutions themselves too often capitulate."
Tim Karr, senior director of strategy and communications at Free Press, echoed Pickard's point about the media being responsible for the president's political rise, and he singled out NBC's decision to air Trump's reality TV show, "The Apprentice," which he said gave Americans the false impression that he was a "successful and decisive businessman."
He also expressed concerns that broadcasters would offer the president more concessions in an attempt to avoid retaliation.
"What should be more worrying to anyone who appreciates a free press is the degrees to which these massive media conglomerates are capitulating before the president," he said. "If we've learned anything about the media from the past eight months, it's that massive media companies are far too beholden to the political elite to speak truth to power."
He then accused the major networks of cowering before Trump despite having the First Amendment clearly on their side.
"NBC and ABC are protected under the First Amendment from the sort of government meddling proposed here by Trump—and enacted by his obsequious FCC chairman, Brendan Carr," he said. "The problem is that big media conglomerates like these two would rather cave to the president than stand up for their constitutional rights."
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