US President Donald Trump has said he wants to “take oil from Iran” and possibly seize Kharq Island, while insisting Washington is doing “extremely well” in negotiations with Iran. According to the US president, he is “reasonably confident” that a peace agreement will be reached.
Such messages came in an interview published late on the evening of 29 March in the Financial Times and in a statement Trump made an hour later to reporters aboard Air Force One.
Speaking to reporters, Trump hailed progress in talks with Iran, saying they were progressing directly and indirectly, and asserted that Tehran was partially opening the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies pass.
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He did not give details about the talks, Iranian leaders deny them. Tehran said it has received a 15-point peace plan from the US but does not accept it.
“We are doing very well in these negotiations. But you never know what happens with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to undermine them … with B52 bombers”, or by tearing up the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers including the United States, Russia and China, Trump said.
“I think we’re going to make a deal with them. Pretty confident. But it’s possible that we won’t,” he told reporters. – But we’ve already had regime change. The [Iranian] regime has been destroyed, defeated. They’re all dead.”
Trump added, without elaborating, that the current leaders are behaving “very prudently.”
In an interview with the FT, Trump said he would “prefer to take the oil away”, comparing the situation to that in Venezuela, where he said he intends to take control of the oil industry “indefinitely” after US troops captured the leader there, Nicolas Maduro, in January.
“Honestly, I like the idea of taking over Iran’s oil the best, but some stupid people in the United States say, ‘Why do that? ‘ But those are stupid people,” the FT quoted Trump as saying.
“Maybe we’ll capture Kharq Island, maybe we won’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said, referring to the hub from where most Iranian oil is exported.
It would also mean we would have to stay there [on Kharq Island] for a while,” he said. – I don’t think they have any defences. We could capture it very easily.
Despite the threats, Trump insisted that indirect talks between the US and Iran through Pakistani “emissaries” were progressing well. Trump has set a deadline of 6 April for Iran to accept an agreement to end the war or face US strikes on its power plants.
Top of the US administration’s list of demands is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely blocked.
Tehran has said it will allow ships from “non-armoured” countries to pass safely through the strait, which Trump has called progress.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Islamabad was preparing to hold talks between Washington and Tehran on ending the conflict in the coming days. “Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days for a comprehensive and lasting solution to the ongoing conflict,” he said.
It was unclear from the minister’s statement whether the United States and Iran had agreed to attend such a meeting.
On 28 February, the US launched a joint military operation with Israel against Iran. The strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and hit the country’s military and nuclear facilities. Iran retaliated by striking US bases and infrastructure of Washington’s Gulf allies.
Since the launch of the operation, Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the world’s oceans. The Strait is of strategic importance because it is the route through which oil from the oil-producing countries of the Persian Gulf flows to the world market.