Fact Check: Did Iran agree to open Strait of Hormuz if Trump admits he lost 2020 election?
WASHINGTON, DC: Amid the renewed tensions in the Middle East, a rumor is circulating on social media platforms claiming that Iran has said that it will open the Strait of Hormuz if President Donald Trump admits that he lost the 2020 election. The rumor has sparked mockery and scrutiny, prompting a verification of the viral claim.
Claim: Iran agrees to open Strait of Hormuz if Trump admits 2020 election defeat
According to the rumor, the government of Iran announced that it would open the vital strait if Trump admits that he lost the 2020 presidential election, which he claimed was rigged.
The claim surfaced following a viral Facebook post which stated, “In a major setback for Donald J. Trump, the government of Iran announced on Thursday that it would only reopen the Strait of Hormuz when he admits he lost the 2020 election.”
“The whole world knows you lost, moron,” the official Iranian statement allegedly read. “Stop being such a f***ing baby.”
The post also states that Iran wants Trump to agree that the disintegration of the Reflecting Pool was the result of his own incompetence. The post ended by asserting these demands as non-negotiable.
Fact Check: False, the claim originated as satire
The claim, however, is false, as there is no evidence of Iran releasing such a statement asking the president to admit that he lost the election.
The mention of the damage to the Reflecting Pool and the referring to the president as a ‘moron’ in the alleged statement are also unusual and unlikely.
Searches on Google and Bing for the claim returned no relevant results from credible news media outlets in the US or Iran.
Moreover, the claim was first posted by a Facebook account called The Borowitz Report, which describes itself as a satirical account.
The page’s bio read, “I've been writing satirical news since I was eighteen. This represents either commitment to a genre or arrested development.”
Donald Trump alleges Chinese interference in 2020 election
The claim surfaced after Trump, on July 16, announced the release of intelligence documents that allegedly revealed how China carried out a coordinated campaign to influence the 2020 presidential election and prevent his return to the White House.
"The People's Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China's illicit acquisition of 220 million US voter files," Trump said.
"The Chinese government sought to identify US journalists who had reported negatively on the US President and pay them large sums of money to write more negative articles about him," he said.
