The US president has claimed American forces could “very easily” capture the key export hub
President Donald Trump is not ruling out the possibility of US forces seizing Iran’s key export hub on Kharg Island in order to take control of the Islamic Republic’s oil exports.
“To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran,” Trump told the Financial Times in an interview on Sunday. “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options.”
Trump claimed his “preference” would be for Washington to control Tehran’s oil industry and exports indefinitely, as it did in Venezuela following a military raid in January.
Meanwhile, oil prices surged to about $115 a barrel after Iranian media reported a suspected US-Israeli strike on the Tabriz Petrochemical Company on Monday.
Despite diplomatic efforts involving Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the fighting has continued to widen across the region. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have now formally entered the conflict, while Washington reinforced its military presence to more than 50,000 troops over the weekend.
The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad for peace talks earlier on Sunday.
Iran has received proposals from the United States through mediators, but Tehran considers them “highly unreasonable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to the RT bureau in Iran.
The Israeli military said it is ready for a “multi-front war” after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the conflict with missile attacks on Israel.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it would “begin bombing” the homes of US and Israeli officials and military commanders in retaliation for repeated strikes on residential buildings that have killed nearly 2,000 civilians in Iran over the first month of the war.
Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates. You can also read our previous updates here.
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