'Don't talk about it': Trump involved in testy exchange with CNN journalist over Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump is not known for his bonhomie with journalists, and that was on full display when he snapped at CNN's Jake Tapper during a phone interview following Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden death. The tense exchange came in the wake of Tapper asking President Trump to clarify whether the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping lane, was open after Iran claimed it was closed on Friday.

Trump did not sound pleased with the question, responding: "It's open as far as we're concerned. Don't talk about it. Talk about the reason that you asked me to speak," he told Tapper, who did not press him further on it. Tapper later told Trump he'd like him to return for an interview so he could ask other questions, to which Trump agreed, adding: "We're trying to have CNN go on a normal path"—a comment critics said sounded like an attempt to influence how the network, which Trump has previously dismissed as "fake news", covers him.

Tapper shot back in the moment, albeit in a subdued fashion: "Well, I'm on a normal path right here, sir." But this was not enough to convince some viewers that Tapper had stood his ground firmly. Many online, where the clip has been steadily gaining traction, accused Tapper of going easy on Trump, with one user calling him a "pathetic sycophant," according to the Daily Beast. The publication noted that Tapper had not been docile in the face of Trump's attacks in the past.

This was not the only tetchy exchange Trump had with a journalist over Iran. The 80-year-old also appeared on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday, where Kristen Welker asked him the same question about Iran's claims. Trump was less curt this time: "I don't want to talk about it because I want to honor the life of Lindsey Graham. I told you that before the call. It's open. We bombed the hell out of them last night. They're very, very evil and sick people," he said.

Trump added that Iran agreed to a deal that would have been "perfect" for the U.S., with no nuclear program, but that Tehran launched a strike on a ship within an hour of reaching that agreement. "You're sick people. And so it's one of those things. I don't want to talk about it," he grumbled. Welker is the same journalist whose interview Trump walked out of last month after being pressed for evidence to support his election fraud claims.

Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command announced it had launched another round of strikes against Iran "to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz" and to keep Iranian forces in check. The strikes suggest negotiations to end the war may now be on the verge of collapse. This is perhaps why Iran rushed to close the strait again—something it first did in response to the strikes back when the war began in February.

A CENTCOM statement, however, clarified that the Hormuz Strait is open to all vessels on Saturday. "U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available despite unwarranted Iranian aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations. Iran does not control the strait," they contended. But Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, pointed out last week that the Strait of Hormuz will only open with "Iranian arrangements, not American threats."