Donald Trump has faced criticism after sharing a Truth Social post that included a clumsy error.
The president used his Truth Social account to claim the US and Iran have held “very good and productive conversations” concerning the ongoing conflict involving Iran, the US and Israel.
In the message, Trump said he had instructed the Department of War — which he referred to as a renamed version of the Department of Defence — to delay planned US strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
The post arrived as oil prices surged to about $113 per barrel, after hovering closer to $70 before the US and Israeli attacks began.
Iran has since moved to block shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route that handles roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil shipments.
Some commentators suggested Trump’s announcement was aimed at pushing prices back down. Oil did dip to $97.47 in the wake of the post, before rising again to around $104.
After the original message went live, several people in the replies highlighted what they saw as an embarrassing mistake.
They pointed out that in one section Trump appeared to have misspelled “which” as “witch,” prompting one user to suggest the post had been hurried out.
“Look at all of the grammatical and spelling errors. This was RUSHED in PANIC.”
Others also weighed in, with one person calling the mistake humiliating.
“Trump’s making insane spelling mistakes in his latest post. Totally embarrassing.”
Another user raised concerns about the implications of sloppy posting online.
“A lot of spelling errors on that post by Trump….God forbid if his twitter is hacked some day.”
The initial version was later deleted, though not before it was captured in a screenshot, and was replaced by a corrected post.
As is often the case with his online statements, Trump’s post was written entirely in capital letters.
In the updated version, the US president wrote:
“I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.”
He ended with his familiar closing line:
“THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”