Trump Mulls Taking Iranian Oil, Seizing Kharg Island

A satellite image shows an oil terminal at Kharg Island, Iran, on Feb. 25, 2026. 2026 Planet Labs PBC/Handout via ReutersPresident Donald Trump on March 29 suggested that he was considering taking Iran’s oil and seizing Kharg Island, Tehran’s key oil export hub, as thousands of U.S. troops were deployed to the Middle East.In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said “his preference would be to take the oil” in Iran, likening it to the U.S. operation in Venezuela on Jan. 3 that resulted in Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s ouster and U.S. control over the country’s oil industry.