President Donald Trump claims the United States is ready to take out Iran’s oil export hub — but has stopped short of doing so.
Trump spoke with reporters on Air Force One Sunday, stating the U.S. is “locked and loaded” to destroy Iran’s Kharg Island.
Trump referred to previous U.S. strikes on the island, a place he described as the Iran’s “crown jewel,” leaving only a section that handles oil pipelines intact.
“We can do that on five minutes’ notice. We have it all locked and loaded and ready to go if we want to do it,” he said. “We chose not to do it. I chose not to do it again. We’ll see what happens.”
Trump said the threat is intended to pressure Iran into talks. The president said Tehran wants to “negotiate badly” but is not yet ready to make the concessions the United States is demanding.
“I don’t think they’re ready to do what they have to do. But I think they will be at some point,” Trump said.
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Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said to CBS News on Sunday that his country has not asked for a ceasefire or negotiations in the conflict that is now entering its third week.
“We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes,” Araghchi said. “And this is what we have done so far, and we continue to do that until President Trump comes to the point that this is an illegal war with no victory.”
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) hit Kharg Island on Friday as part of Operation Epic Fury.
The strikes hit more than 90 military targets, including naval mine storage facilities and missile bunkers, while leaving the island’s oil infrastructure intact, according to CENTCOM.
Axios reported Trump has discussed the possibility of seizing Kharg outright.
One U.S. official reportedly said this would amount to “an economic knockout of the regime” by cutting off a key source of Iran’s oil revenue.
Seizing the island could require deploying U.S. troops and risk Iranian retaliatory strikes on oil infrastructure across the Gulf.
“There are big risks. There are big rewards. The president isn’t there yet and we’re not saying he will be,” the official told Axios.
