President Donald Trump is done kidding around with Iran.
In an interview aired Tuesday night on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Trump laid out the facts. Iran must surrender, or America will take off the gloves… and that includes seizing the country’s most critical oil export hub.
“Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants,” Trump said. “Next week comes the bridges. We’re gonna knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
He said U.S. negotiators have already delivered the message directly to Iran’s mullahs.
“You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,” American officials told Tehran Tuesday evening.
“Do you still intend to take Kharg Island?” Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst asked.
“I can’t say that to you, because if I did, it would be foolish, right?” Trump answered. “But it would be nice, it would make little headlines, but it would be foolish.”
“Are you ruling out a ground campaign in a limited capacity?” Yingst pressed.
“I don’t want to say that either, but I would say no, if I thought it was appropriate,” Trump replied.
“Sometimes you need a ground campaign. But we have other people that will do the ground campaign for us.”
“We already hit Kharg Island, as you know, twice, even three times. I said hit everything but the oil, just leave that little area from 25 yards out, leave that little area, don’t touch the oil, because I don’t want that, in terms of the world economy. It’s a chunk of the world economy. So, we haven’t hit that. At some point we could, but I think it’s unlikely.”
That is conditional on Iran coming to the table to make a deal.
“As far as taking it is concerned, if we degrade them far enough and deep enough back, I would do that.”
Kharg Island handles 90% of Iran’s oil exports, and sits just 15 miles off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf. Seizing it would cut off Iran’s entire oil revenue overnight. Military experts told Fox News that U.S. Marines could take the island in a matter of hours.
The interview aired as the U.S. military completed its fourth night of devastating strikes against Iran after the Iranian regime ripped up their memorandum of understanding.
CENTCOM confirmed a seven-hour wave of attacks hitting “dozens” of Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz. At least seven Iranian military personnel were killed in strikes on a base in the southeastern city of Bampur. Iran’s army launched retaliatory drone strikes against U.S. positions at Jordan’s Azraq base. The U.S. Navy has also put back into place the blockade of Iranian ports.
The U.S. says Iran has attacked seven commercial vessels over the past week alone.
“I’ll save the energy targets for last,” Trump warned, “But ultimately, we’ll hit energy targets.”