From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Trump: Iran gave US a present worth a ton of money, related to oil, gas and Hormuz
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Donald Trump says that Iran gave him a “present” worth a “tremendous amount of money” related to the Strait of Hormuz and matters of oil and gas.
Asked by reporters in the Oval Office why he trusts the Iranians, he first insists that he doesn’t trust anyone before revealing, “They did something yesterday that was amazing — they gave us a present… that arrived today.”
“It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money, and I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize,” Trump says.
“They gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it. That meant one thing to me. [That we’re] dealing with the right people… They’re the only ones [who] could have done it.”
“It wasn’t nuclear related, it was oil and gas related,” he adds when pressed to clarify the nature of the gift.
Asked if the gift is related to the flow in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump responds, “Yeah.” Asked if the US will control Hormuz after the war, Trump says, “We’ll have control of anything we want.”
“I think we’re going to end [the war],” he adds.
Trump quips that when he told his defense secretary and military chief that he thinks the Iran war will be settled soon, the latter two were upset because they want to keep fighting.
The Times of Israel Community.