Written by: Imogen Garfinkel, Senior Foreign Correspondent
Donald Trump said he could ‘take the oil from Iran’ and boasted that he could ‘easily’ invade Kharg Island.
This comes as the number of US troops in the Middle East rose to 50,000, about 10,000 more than normal.
After the Pentagon drew up plans for possible raids on Kharg Island, the Islamic Republic’s main oil export hub, and attacks on coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran vowed to fire American troops if the US President ordered a land attack on the country.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said his ‘preference would be to take the oil’, likening the potential operation to Venezuela, whose oil industry it plans to control ‘indefinitely’ after Washington took over dictator Nicolás Maduro in January.
His comments came as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its fifth week, deepening the crisis in the Middle East with oil prices rising more than 50 percent in a month.
