'When in doubt, say Mohammad': Trump jokes about common Middle East name while taking aim at Iran

US President Donald Trump joked about the popularity of the name Mohammad in the Muslim world while taking aim at Iran's presidency during a campaign rally in Georgia on Friday."You know, if you're in doubt about somebody's name from the Middle East, just say 'Mohammad,'" news agency Reuters quoted Trump saying during a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia. "You have about a 65% chance. 'Hello, Mohammad.' I've done it for years now. I've never been wrong." The crowd in Georgia gave the joke a muted response.Trump made the remarks while discussing Iran at a rally held in a hangar at Dalton Municipal Airport, where he campaigned for Republican political candidates ahead of the November 3 midterm elections."Iran is the only country where nobody wants to be president," Trump said, before pretending to ask several people named Mohammad whether they wanted the job. Masoud Pezeshkian has been Iran's president since 2024.Mohammad is among the most common male names among Muslims, who often name their sons after Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam.Trump's remarks come amid repeated criticism from rights advocates and Muslim advocacy groups over what they describe as rhetoric that mocks or demonises Muslims, immigrants and ethnic minorities.During the midterm campaign season, Trump has intensified his rhetoric against Somali and Muslim Americans, including Muslim Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, who came to the US as a Somali refugee.Trump also reiterated his vow that Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon, seven months after the United States and Israel launched a war against Tehran aimed, in part, at crippling its nuclear programme.An annual report released earlier this year by the Council on American-Islamic Relations attributed a rise in Islamophobia in the US partly to Trump's crackdown on immigration and pro-Palestinian protests during his second term.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.