U.S. President Donald Trump said he could “take the oil in Iran” and seize Iran’s export hub of Kharg Island, as hostilities in the Middle East continue for a fifth week.
Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that his “preference would be to take the oil,” comparing it to the U.S. military operation in Venezuela earlier this year where the U.S. effectively gained control of the Latin American country’s oil industry, following the capture of its leader Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration has weighed sending ground forces to the Kharg Island, according to Reuters, with one of its sources warning that such an operation would be “very risky.” Tehran has the ability to reach the island with missiles and drones.
In the FT interview, Trump said that “my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people.”
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”
The White House and the U.S. State Department didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Trump’s remarks come as the conflict between the U.S.-Israel and Iran expands across the region, raising risks to energy and infrastructure, and sending crude oil prices surging.
May futures for Brent crude rose over 3.2% to $116.12 per barrel during early Asia hours, with the international benchmark heading for a record monthly jump. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures gained 3.4% to $102.96 per barrel.
The Washington Post reported Saturday night that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of potential ground conflict in Iran with around 3,500 troops arriving in the region on Friday. Thousands of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have also been ordered to support the war effort.
Trump said last week that Iranian negotiators were “begging” the U.S. to make a deal to end the war, though Iran has denied any direct interaction with the U.S. Trump in his interview to the FT said that indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran via Pakistani “emissaries” were progressing well.
Mixed messaging
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews on Sunday evening that the two sides had had “very good meetings, both directly and indirectly.”
The U.S. sent Iran a 15-point peace plan, including a complete termination of Iran’s nuclear program and sharp limits on the reach and size of its missile arsenal. Tehran has publicly rejected the offer and laid out its own conditions.
Trump, however, claimed that Iran had agreed to most of the 15 points proposed by the U.S. for a peace deal. “They gave us most of the points …They’re agreeing with us on the plan,” he said, adding that Iran had allowed up to 20 boats laden with oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz, “out of a sign of respect.”
“I would only say that we’re doing extremely well in that negotiation. But you never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them, and then we always have to blow them up,” Trump said.
Asked about a possible ground troop deployment, Trump said there were “lots of alternatives,” adding that the U.S. military’s achievements against Iran so far were akin to “truly [a] regime change.”
A potential U.S. ground operation will likely trigger Iranian military to escalate attacks on power infrastructure and desalinization plants across the Gulf region, said Seth Krummrich, vice president of Global Guardian, and a former U.S. chief of staff, special operations, CENTCOM.
“We’re probably closer to the beginning or to the middle of this story than we are to the end,” Krummrich said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
Critical infrastructure in the region has already come under fire. In a social media post on Monday morning, Kuwait said a service building at a power generation and water desalination plant were damaged in an attack Sunday evening, killing one worker.
The country said the facility was targeted as part of what it described as Iranian aggression against Kuwait. The worker killed was an Indian national, according to the power ministry.
Emergency teams were deployed immediately to contain damage and maintain operations, while authorities coordinated with security agencies to secure the site. Officials said Kuwait’s electricity and water systems remain stable and contingency plans had been activated to ensure continued supply, according to the statement.
Gulf desalination plants supply most drinking water in the region, making them critical infrastructure and a sensitive target in any escalation.
Iran-aligned Houthi forces also entered the conflict and launched missiles toward Israel. “The Yemeni Armed Forces … have carried out the first military operation using a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting sensitive Israeli military sites,” Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said in a post on X.
— CNBC’s Lee Ying Shan and Azhar Sukri contributed to this report.
