President Donald Trump said Sunday he wants to “take Iran’s oil” and plans to seize the export hub of Kharg Island, responsible for exporting Iranian oil. more than 90% Iranian oil exports.
In an interview Speaking to the Financial Times, Trump declared that his “preference would be to take the oil.”
“To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil from Iran, but stupid people in the United States say, ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they are stupid people,” he said.
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The interview marks one of Trump’s most direct comments on his thoughts on what to do with Iranian oil.
In an interview with NBC News this month, Trump dodged the answer if he intended to try to take Iranian oil.
“Look at Venezuela,” he said. “People have thought about it, but it’s too early to talk about it.”
In January, the United States captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and proceeded to take more control on the country’s oil industry.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday evening.
Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that the United States had “a lot of options,” including the possibility of taking Kharg Island, a rare island made of hard coral off the coast of Iran.
“Maybe we’ll take Kharg Island, maybe we won’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. “It would also mean that we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”
Oil prices have soared all over the world as the war continues, with American crude oil costing more than $100 a barrel on Sunday.
Thousands of American soldiers are arriving in the Middle East, but Trump and his administration continue to signal that they are working to negotiate a 15-point proposal to end the war.
Trump declined Sunday to provide specific details on whether a ceasefire agreement could be reached in the coming days to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway used for travel. around 20% of global oil exports.
“We have about 3,000 targets left “We’ve bombed 13,000 targets – and we still have a few thousand targets left,” Trump said in the Financial Times interview. “A deal could be reached quite quickly.”
