Why is Islamic Republic of Japan trending on social media?

US President Donald Trump mistook Japan for the Islamic Republic of Iran during a press conference on Wednesday.

“We have an aircraft carrier which is one of the most beautiful in the world, it's one of the biggest, the (USS) Abraham Lincoln," Trump said.

"And a few months ago, we had, I told this story yesterday, we had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan."

Shortly after he made the mistake, social media users, especially Trump critics, started mocking the president.

“We officially have a new nation on earth,” said an X user commenting on the president’s video, which has garnered over 19 million views withing hours after it was posted.

Another said, “Could be a speech slip or cognitive overload leading to confusion of names, especially when under pressure.”

Multiple accounts shared memes based on President Trump’s slip of tongue, sparking funny reactions on social networking websites.