New Delhi, July 10 -- ANKARA - In a moment that drew audible reactions from the floor of the NATO summit, President Donald Trump referred to Japan as the "Islamic Republic of Japan" while describing what he said was a missile strike on an American aircraft carrier, apparently confusing the country with Iran in front of an audience of allied heads of state.

The remark came during Trump's address to the summit on Wednesday, as he discussed ongoing tensions in the Persian Gulf, where the United States has deployed nineteen naval vessels including two aircraft carrier strike groups. "One hundred and eleven missiles were shot at the USS Abraham Lincoln by the Islamic Republic of Japan," Trump said, according to pool reports from journalists c...