Trump says he now wants to take Iran's oil even though 'stupid people' ask why

The US President said his military could take Iran’s Kharg Island ‘very easily’ (Picture: AP) Donald Trump has again changed his mind about what he wants from the war in Iran, saying his ‘favourite thing is to take the oil’ a month on from the opening strikes. The US President has previously claimed he started the war with Israel at the end of March to encourage regime change and to destroy any chance of Tehran building a nuclear weapon. But in a new interview with the Financial Times, he compared his plans in Iran to the operation in Venezuela at the start of the year, which ended with the US controlling its oil industry. Trump told the newspaper: ‘To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say, “Why are you doing that?” ‘But they’re stupid people.’ He added that the US could take Iran’s Kharg Island, a strategically and economically crucial site in the Strait of Hormuz ‘very easily’ but said ‘we have a lot of options’. Around 3,500 US troops arrived in the Middle East at the weekend as Trump ramps up the military presence there. The unit, led by the warship USS Tripoli, is composed of sailors and marines alongside assault and transport assets. An explosion in Tehran following strikes by the US and Israel (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock) Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said in a video posted yesterday that the soldiers were being led ‘into the swamp of death’. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, also warned that his country’s forces are ‘waiting for the arrival of American troops to set them on fire’. However, Trump claimed in his interview with the Financial Times that it was Ghalibaf who authorised his ‘present’ of tankers permitted to pass safely through the Strait. The US took a blow at the weekend when an Iranian strike on the Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia destroyed an E-3 Sentry – a jet worth $500m equipped with vital radar capabilities. At least 12 US soldiers were also injured, two significantly, in the attack. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer is preparing to meet business leaders in Downing Street to discuss the economic damage that may result from the conflict. This morning, the Brent crude oil price reached above $116 a barrel in Asia, and it is on track to hit its biggest monthly gain on record. Senior representatives from the energy, shipping and financial services industries are expected to join the Prime Minister alongside British maritime operations commander Major General Richard Cantrill. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.