Smoke rises from the direction of an energy installation in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah on March 14, 2026. Smoke could be seen rising from the direction of a major UAE energy installation on March 14, in what appeared to be the latest strike targeting the Gulf’s petroleum facilities hours after the US struck Iran’s Kharg Island.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said he could “take the oil in Iran” and seize Iran’s export hub of Kharg Island, as hostilities in the Middle East continue for a fifth week.
Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that his “preference would be to take the oil,” comparing it to the U.S. military operation in Venezuela earlier this year where the U.S. effectively gained control of the Latin American country’s oil industry, following the capture of its leader Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration has weighed sending ground forces to the Kharg Island, according to Reuters, with one of its sources warning that such an operation would be “very risky.” Tehran has the ability to reach the island with missiles and drones.
In the FT interview, Trump said that “my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people.”
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”
The White House and the U.S. State Department didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Trump’s remarks come as the conflict between U.S.-Israel and Iran entered its fifth week, with attacks expanding across the region, raising risks to energy and infrastructure, and sending crude oil prices surging.ย
May futures for theย Brent crudeย rose over 3.2% to $116.12 per barrel during early Asia hours, with the international benchmark heading for a record monthly jump. The U.S.ย West Texas Intermediate futuresย gained 3.4% to $102.96 per barrel.
Theย Washington Postย reported Saturday night that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of potential ground conflict in Iran as around 3,500 troops arrived in the region on Friday. Thousands of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have also been ordered to support the war effort.
Trump said last week that Iranian negotiators were “begging” the U.S. to make a deal to end the war, though Iran has denied any direct interaction with the U.S. Trump in his interview to the FT said that indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran via Pakistani “emissaries” were progressing well.ย
He told reporters onboard Air Force One on the way to the Joint Base Andrews on Sunday evening that Tehran allowed 20 boats laden with oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz “out of a sign of respect.”
Asked about possible ground troop deployment, Trump said there were “lots of alternatives,” adding that the U.S. military’s achievements against Iran so far were akin to “truly [a] regime change.”
A potential U.S. ground operation will likely trigger Iranian military to escalate attacks on power infrastructure and desalinization plants across the Gulf region, said Seth Krummrich, vice president of Global Guardian, and a former U.S. chief of staff, special operations, CENTCOM.
“We’re probably closer to the beginning or to the middle of this story than we are to the end,” Krummrich said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
Signaling further escalation, critical infrastructure in the region has come under fire. In a social media post on Monday morning, Kuwait said a service building at a power generation and water desalination plant were damaged in an attack Sunday evening, killing one worker.
The country said the facility was targeted as part of what it described as Iranian aggression against Kuwait. The worker killed was an Indian national, according to the power ministry.
Emergency teams were deployed immediately to contain damage and maintain operations, while authorities coordinated with security agencies to secure the site.ย Officials said Kuwait’s electricity and water systems remain stable and contingency plans had been activated to ensure continued supply, according to the statement.
Gulf desalination plants supply most drinking water in the region, making them critical infrastructure and a sensitive target in any escalation.ย
Iran-aligned Houthi forces also entered the conflict and launched missiles toward Israel. “The Yemeni Armed Forces … have carried out the first military operation using a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting sensitive Israeli military sites,” Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said in aย postย on X.
โ CNBC’s Lee Ying Shan and Azhar Sukri contributed to this report.
