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| - The proposal Gingrich shared in his post came from a satirical article. We cannot confirm whether Gingrich was taking the article seriously when he shared it.
In March 2026, Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared to advocate for using nuclear detonations to create a new canal as an alternative to the Iran-controlled Strait of Hormuz. Screenshots of a purported X post sharing this sentiment spread online.
The above post from Gingrich's official X account was real; as such, we rate this claim as true. However, the article he shared is satirical in nature, and it is not clear whether Gingrich was taking the article seriously. We have reached out to Gingrich to learn more and will update this post accordingly.
On March 15, Gingrich's verified X account posted (archived) the following quote from a Substack article: "Instead of fighting over a 21-mile-wide bottleneck forever, we cut a new channel through friendly territory. A dozen thermonuclear detonations and you've got a waterway wider than the Panama Canal, deeper than the Suez, and safe from Iranian attacks."
(X user @NewtGingrich)
The original post, "It's Time," appeared on a Substack page titled ChinaTalk. The Substack describes itself as a nonpartisan "hybrid think tank and media outlet with deep expertise on China and emerging technology."
The end of the blog post states: "The views expressed above do not necessarily represent those of anyone with brain cells." This indicates the post was written as a joke.
The post, addressed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, begins with the argument "We nuke us a canal." The post ends with:
Your boss is a builder. Trump doesn't want to play nice with a coalition of countries he hates to patrol the Strait of Hormuz. He wants to cut a ribbon and watch the chyron on Fox. "TRUMP CANAL OPENS — LARGEST IN HUMAN HISTORY." Mr. Secretary, give him that chyron and you win the war and keep your job. We can even tariff the tankers.
My DMs are open.
An update below the post also shared a screenshot of Gingrich's X post with the caption: "Newt approved."
The post appeared to be responding to Hegseth's statement during a news conference that the Strait of Hormuz was open, in which he said that "the only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping."
The Iran war caused the effective closure of the key shipping route between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, resulting in rising oil prices around the world. Trump has called on other countries to send ships to help unblock the strait. However, many nations rejected the request and have been reluctant to be pulled into a war with Iran.
Snopes has covered numerous rumors about the rising oil prices as a result of the Iran War.
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