The president’s handling of the Iran war has earned him a humiliating new nickname among Wall Street traders who are questioning his ability to reopen a critical global oil route.
Traders have adopted the term “NACHO,” an acronym for “Not A Chance Hormuz Opens,” according to Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas, who reported Wednesday that a trader disclosed the nickname. It’s a reference to the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which about a fifth of global oil supplies normally flow.
The chokepoint was shuttered by Iran in response to U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, sending oil prices soaring. With a fragile ceasefire in place, the U.S. and Iran remain in a standoff over the waterway, which is central to global energy markets.
The nickname follows an earlier moniker coined by traders, “TACO,” short for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” which he earned for his shifting stance on trade policy.
The White House did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Trump’s handling of the Iran conflict came under scrutiny after he canceled a planned diplomatic meeting over the weekend, despite his repeated suggestions that the conflict could end soon.
The meeting was scheduled between special envoy Steve Witkoff, the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, but Trump said he believed the trip would be unproductive amid the diplomatic stalemate.
“I see no point of sending them on an 18-hour flight in the current situation. It’s too long. We can do it just as well by telephone,” Trump told Axios on Saturday. “The Iranians can call us if they want. We are not gonna travel just to sit there.”
The president subsequently convened a meeting at the White House on Tuesday with top oil and gas executives to discuss the war’s energy fallout, Axios reported.
Pressure is mounting on the Trump administration as oil prices continue to soar. On Wednesday, U.S. gas prices hit record highs since the start of the conflict, reaching an average nationwide of $4.23 a gallon, according to AAA.
Trump had been warned prior to the strikes about the risk that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz. The Trump administration, however, still maintains that the disruption will be short-lived.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the Daily Beast on Wednesday that Trump “brought oil and gas prices down to multi-year lows at record speed.”
“As traffic in the Strait of Hormuz normalizes, these energy prices will plummet once again. President Trump has always been clear that these are short-term, temporary disruptions,” Rogers added.
Tehran has offered to reopen the strait in exchange for Washington lifting its blockade on the country and shifting negotiations on the country’s nuclear program to a later date, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, noting that the president “seems unlikely to accept the offer.”
