Trump says he wants to ‘take the oil in Iran,’ could seize Kharg Island

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, including desalination plants that supply drinking water, if a deal to end the war is not reached “shortly.”

Iran meanwhile struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, as the war raged with no end in sight.

Trump’s new threat came in a social media post. Earlier comments to the Financial Times suggested American troops could seize Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. Trump has repeatedly claimed to be making diplomatic progress-- though Tehran denies negotiating directly -- while ramping up his threats and sending thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East.

Trump told the New York Post that the U.S. is negotiating with Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. The former Revolutionary Guard commander, who has taunted the U.S. on social media, dismissed the talks facilitated by Pakistan as a cover for the latest American troop deployments.

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Trump says diplomacy is going well but threatens major escalation

In a social media post, Trump said “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said if a deal is not reached “shortly,” and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating” power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants.

The strait is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime.

The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure such as energy plants only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It’s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.

A 22-year-old resident of Karaj, near Tehran, said his area lost power for several hours overnight following nearby strikes.

“I was really scared. I thought that they’d hit the power plants and that we are not going to have power anymore,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.

In the FT interview, Trump said his preference would be to “take the oil in Iran.”

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t,” he said, referring to a terminal through which nearly all of Iran’s oil exports pass.

Iran says U.S. demands are `excessive, unrealistic and irrational’

The U.S. already has targeted military positions on Kharg. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops set foot on its territory.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration containing “excessive, unrealistic and irrational” demands, while denying there had been any direct talks.

Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover while more U.S. troops are brought to the region. He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.

Twice during Trump’s second term, the U.S. has attacked Iran during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.

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Iran attacks Israel and Gulf infrastructure

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel’s main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel’s military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours: Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province; a fireball erupted over Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a missile was intercepted; and in Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and wounding 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

An Emirati official signalled that the UAE wants more than just a ceasefire.

“An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape,” Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, wrote in a column published by the state-linked, English-language newspaper The National.

She added: “We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.”

NATO air defences intercepted a ballistic missile over Turkiye that was fired from Iran, Turkiye’s Defence Ministry said, in the fourth such incident since the start of the war. Iran has denied firing the previous missiles. Turkiye has tried to maintain a neutral position and is taking part in mediation efforts.

Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking “military infrastructure” across Tehran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital and Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage in an airstrike.

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Peacekeeper killed in Lebanon, where Israel is battling Hezbollah

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, where Israel is battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah, said three peacekeepers have been killed in less than 24 hours. The peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL did not say who was responsible for the deaths overnight and into Monday.

Two of the peacekeepers were killed when an explosion of “unknown origin” destroyed their vehicle, and a third was killed earlier when a UNIFIL base was hit by a projectile. All three peacekeepers were from the Indonesian army, UN officials said.

An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb killed one person and wounded 17, including four children, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would widen its invasion, expanding the “existing security strip” in southern Lebanon.

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

Two dozen people have been killed In Gulf states and the occupied West Bank. In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than one million have been displaced.

Six Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed in the war.

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Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow

Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz have threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer. They have sent fuel prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about an energy crisis.

Trump has said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as “a sign of respect.” There wasn’t any information on whether those ships were actually moving.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, was trading around US$115 Monday, up nearly 60 per cent from when the war started.

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By Jon Gambrell, Josh Boak And Mike Corder

Boak reported from Washington and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, Collin Binkley in Washington, and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed.