WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy, who has drawn 2028 presidential buzz, sparked a firestorm for bizarrely applauding a disputed report that more than two dozen Iranian vessels have slipped through the ongoing US blockade.

“Awesome,” Murphy (D-Conn.) posted on X Monday in response to a report from the shipping journal Lloyd’s List claiming that at least 26 so-called “shadow fleet” vessels had eluded the American shipping siege.

In response to the blowback, Murphy insisted he was merely being sarcastic.

“Ok Twitter, I can’t believe I need to clarify this but obviously Trump’s bungled mismanagement of this war is not ‘awesome,'” Murphy posted on X. 

“As I have said a million times here, it’s a disaster and he should end the war immediately. My tweet was something called ‘sarcasm.'”

Murphy later grumbled to a reporter that “I just have to be more careful about sarcasm on Twitter” in the future.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell denied the Lloyd’s List report as “false” and slammed Murphy’s comment as “shameful” in a social media response.

At least one Democratic staffer agreed that Murphy had gone too far, telling The Post: “Stupid sarcasm over life or death issues is beneath a senator.”

“Was it sarcasm? Certainly,” the staffer insisted. “But when so many on the far-left have been openly cheering for the Iranian regime (see Calla Walsh), and when Murphy has shown a willingness to play to the far-left when it suits him politically, Republicans can hardly be blamed for taking him at his word.

“If a Republican had posted something like this in reverse, you bet your ass Dems would be hitting them for it.”

Murphy, 52, who has been a staunch critic of the war in Iran, has repeatedly bashed the US on the world stage over recent weeks. He trekked to Spain last week to claim the US is facing “the most significant threat to American democracy since the Civil War.”

“We are not on the verge of a totalitarian takeover, we are in the middle of it,” he fumed, urging worldwide progressives to “beat back the forces of fascism.”

Murphy has several foreign policy-related assignments in the Senate, including spots on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

Due to his foreign policy bona fides, the senator was rumored to be a potential contender for Secretary of State if former Vice President Kamala Harris had won the 2024 presidential contest. 

The progressive darling’s cheering on of Iran drew a torrent of backlash from social media, with critics reminding him of the regime’s brutality.

Murphy’s colleague, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) blasted him as an “embarrassment to the Senate” and accused him of “rooting for enemy terrorists who target and kill Americans.”

“He should be stripped of his assignment to the Foreign Relations Committee NOW!” Scott added.

“Senate Democrats are expected to disagree with Republicans. But cheering for our enemy, especially for a regime that has killed so many American citizens, is beyond the pale. Democrats in Congress ought to condemn this disgusting remark,” the Senate GOP X account said.

“‘Go Iran!’ exclaimed the United States Senator,” conservative pundit Stephen L. Miller jabbed.

“You’re a traitor. POS,” swiped Chaya Raichik on her popular acccount Libs of TikTok.

“You should be removed from the Senate. You are a national security threat,” added right-wing pundit Laura Loomer.

“Really is awesome to have an Iranian agent in the United States Senate. Much diversity!” wrote Will Chamberlain, senior counsel to the Article III Project.

“I wonder how US troops feel about one of their elected senators actively rooting against them,” mused conservative pundit Ian Miles Cheong.

Trump began imposing a blockade on Iran last week in response to the Islamic Republic wreaking havoc on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil flows each year.