US President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he wishes to 'take the oil' in Iran, as the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran enters its second month. On Monday, Trump threatened to target Iran's energy infrastructure, including oil wells, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been under a de facto Iranian blockade for weeks, triggering a global energy crisis. The Trump administration has not unveiled clear objectives for its military actions against Iran, one of the world's largest oil producers that has been under US sanctions for decades.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump claimed his 'preference would be to take the oil' in Iran and that US forces could seize Iran's key export hub at Kharg Island. Kharg is a 22-square-kilometer coral island in Iran's Bushehr province, closely guarded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It processes 90% of Iran's total oil exports, handling approximately 1.5 million barrels per day. On March 14, Trump announced that the US Air Force had bombed Iranian military facilities on the island but purportedly chose not to destroy oil infrastructure 'for reasons of decency,' threatening to reconsider if shipping in the Strait is interfered with.
Critics allege that the Trump administration was emboldened by the success of its brazen military operation in January to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas. Washington supposedly now controls Venezuela's oil exports. Earlier this month, Trump claimed that 100 million barrels of Venezuelan oil had been brought to refineries in Houston, Texas, with an additional 100 million barrels en route. Relations between Venezuela, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves, and the US deteriorated under former President Hugo Chavez and collapsed further under Maduro.
Iran is one of the world's biggest oil producers, holding the second-largest proven natural gas reserves and third-largest crude oil reserves, about 157 billion barrels. Before the conflict, Iran was exporting around 2 million barrels of oil daily, but exports dropped dramatically after Trump imposed sanctions in 2018. The Pentagon is reportedly preparing for limited ground operations in Iran, potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz, according to US officials. However, even if the US invades Kharg Island, it would not grant access to Iranian oil—occupation of mainland Iran's production sites would be required.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has sent global oil prices soaring, with benchmark Brent crude rising to $116 per barrel, nearly double pre-conflict levels. This is not the first time the US has shown interest in Iranian oil: in 1953, the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh was overthrown in a CIA-orchestrated coup after nationalizing the British-controlled oil company, a turning point that still haunts Iran-West relations. More than two decades after the US invasion of Iraq, that country's oil revenues remain effectively under US control through an account at the Federal Reserve Bank.
Source: www.aljazeera.com