President Donald Trump's two-week "ceasefire" agreement with Iran was quickly flagged by experts as being lopsidedly in favor of Iran — with one of the most notable aspects being the United States being open to negotiating Iran's right to collect shipping tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, a massive concession.
But in conversation with ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl on Wednesday, Trump tried to spin it as a good thing — because maybe America could get in on the action and help Iran enforce the toll in exchange for a cut of the revenue.

“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people,” Trump told Karl. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
Commenters on social media largely did not agree with the president on that.
"Counterpoint: It’s not a beautiful thing," wrote columnist Michael A. Cohen.
"Dude is insane. 25th amendment," wrote former MS NOW host and Zeteo News chief Mehdi Hasan.
"Are we gonna do joint ventures for tollbooths at all the major global straits — Malacca, Gibraltar, etc — or are joint ventures possible only if we have a costly war first with the littoral states?" wrote SUNY Albany political science professor Christopher Clary.
"Trump went from 'we’re going to wipe Iran off the map' to 'maybe we’re going into business with them' literally overnight," wrote anti-Trump GOP focus grouper and Bulwark founder Sarah Longwell.
"The truly amazing thing is that there are people in the world who will believe this line of [expletive]. There truly is a sucker born every minute," wrote Penn political science lecturer and Niskanen Center senior fellow Damon Linker.


