Whose Delusions? One Persian Post, Two Translations and an Apostrophe That Reverses the Sentence
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi answered Trump in Persian on X. The English versions that reached American readers differ in what he said and in who was accused of what.
Gharibabadi posted early on Saturday 15 August, responding to Trump’s remark the previous day at a Nassau County police academy that “pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” as OANN quoted him. NBC News rendered the reply as: “The strait cannot be seized with a tweet, nor with an aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor through an election speech,” followed by a line that the waterway “will only be opened and closed under Iran’s command.” OANN, which reproduced the Persian original alongside its translation, carried two further clauses NBC did not: “Iran neither fears threats nor cowers before displays of power,” and “the Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian.” Euronews built its headline on that last clause. NBC’s readers never saw it.
The headline layer compounded the problem. NBC ran “Iran rejects ‘delusions' after Trump says he wants the Strait of Hormuz to be a U.S. territory.” The Hill ran “Iran rejects Trump’s ‘delusions' on making Strait of Hormuz a US territory.” One apostrophe and one proper noun decide whether the scanning reader understands Tehran to be disowning its own claims or dismissing Washington’s. Forbes resolved it differently again, putting the imperative in Iran’s mouth: “Iran Tells Trump: ‘Accept The Reality' He Can’t Make Strait Of Hormuz U.S. Territory.” Al Jazeera’s article at the URL /news/2026/8/14/trump-says-he-will-declare-strait-of-hormuz-a-us-territory surfaced under two distinct headlines — “A US territory? Trump unveils proposal to control Strait of Hormuz” and a version placing “territory” in scare quotes — the same link, two levels of deference to the claim.
Assessment: Translation is where the framing gets decided, and almost nobody flags it. The omitted clauses are not decorative: “has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian” is a sovereignty assertion, while the retained lines read as mockery of Trump. Readers of one outlet met a jeer, readers of another met a territorial claim. Treat the OANN and NBC texts as two editorial products, not one quote. The desk could not surface the major print outlets on this event in any search; that is a retrieval limitation and should not be read as evidence they were silent. Someone with Persian should check both renderings against the original OANN printed.