White House staffers 'baffled' over Trump claiming Iran gave him a prize related to Strait of Hormuz: report [View all]

Source: The Independent

White House staffers ‘baffled’ over Trump claiming Iran gave him a prize related to Strait of Hormuz: report

President Donald Trump was uncharacteristically tight-lipped about the gift, describing it only as ‘a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money’

Joe Sommerlad
Thursday 26 March 2026 16:50 GMT

White House staffers were reportedly left “baffled” by President Donald Trump’s claim Tuesday that he had received a gift from Iran, about which he then refused to disclose anything further.

“They’re gonna make a deal,” the president said of Tehran in the Oval Office as he swore in Markwayne Mullin as his new Homeland Security secretary, replacing Kristi Noem.

“They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present and the present arrived today. It was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money,” he added. “I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize, and they gave it to us.”

“That meant one thing to me. We’re dealing with the right people,” he concluded.

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Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-present-mystery-strait-of-hormuz-b2945506.html

Alternate link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-present-mystery-strait-of-hormuz-b2945506.html

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Original reporting: A ‘very big present’ from Iran (Politico newsletter)