We are three weeks into the Iran war, oil prices are hanging around $105 a barrel, and the Strait of Hormuz is sealed off. Amid all this chaos, President Trump got on Air Force One, heading back from his Florida resort, and dropped a bombshell to reporters: he said he had predicted everything that’s happening now. Then, he claimed he even predicted Osama bin Laden would hit the World Trade Center a year before it happened.
Trump was aboard Air Force One flying from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The president told reporters he had warned everyone about Iran using the Strait of Hormuz as a weapon. Then he circled back to one of his biggest talking points: “I predicted Osama bin Laden would knock out the World Trade Center. I made that prediction a year before he did it.”
Trump’s bin Laden story isn’t new. He has been repeating it for more than ten years, and fact-checkers have called it out just as often. In his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, he mentions bin Laden as one of several possible dangers. Still, he never actually predicted an attack on the World Trade Center, and he never said the U.S. should target bin Laden specifically.
The claim about the Strait of Hormuz hit even harder after everything that had already come out. CNN reported that Trump’s Pentagon and National Security Council seriously misjudged how far Iran would go to close the Strait of Hormuz during their planning. Several sources said the analysis that had been crucial for decision-making in earlier administrations was set aside this time.
During briefings with lawmakers, Trump officials admitted they had never really considered this possibility, as per CNN. One former official said the idea of planning for this kind of scenario had long been “a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades.”
Social media responded with a combination of disbelief and sharp humor.
Internet Reacts to Trump Claiming He Predicted the Strait of Hormuz Crisis and 9/11
The revelation quickly sparked debate online, with many users questioning the logic behind the decision. “Okay Nostradamus, predict this war outcome,” one person wrote.
Others argued that if the possibility was known ahead of time, more should have been done to prevent it. “If he knew, why didn’t he make plans to prevent it,” a user commented. Another added, “He predicted it, but did nothing to stop it, flex.”
Some commenters expressed frustration, suggesting the risk had been acknowledged but ignored. “So basically before launching strikes, Donald Trump was told Iran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz — and he went ahead anyway thinking Tehran would back down. Now the strait’s closure is causing oil chaos and everyone’s like ‘oops,’” one person wrote.
Others questioned whether the warning even counted as a real prediction in the first place. “Scary to think what else he predicted,” a comment read. Another concluded, “He didn’t predict it, it was a brief mention like, eventually a chicken will cross the road.”
Right now, the Strait of Hormuz is shut down. Oil prices shot up to $105 a barrel. Thirteen Americans lost their lives. And while all this is unfolding, the president sits on Air Force One fresh from a Florida retreat and tells reporters he saw it coming. We are living through history as it happens, and folks are fact-checking every detail.
