WASHINGTON — President Trump said in a new interview that seizing Iran’s Kharg Island fuel depot is not currently a priority — but that his thinking could change.
The small island, located about 16 miles off Iran’s coast in the Persian Gulf, is the loading site for about 90% of the Islamic Republic’s oil exports.
“It’s not high on the list, but it’s one of so many different things, and I can change my mind in seconds,” Trump told Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade in an interview that aired Friday morning.
“I can’t answer a question like that … You shouldn’t be even asking it,” the president childed Kilmeade, who also co-hosts Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” morning show, to which the president frequently called in during his first term.
“Let’s say I was going to do it, or let’s say I wasn’t going to do it. What would I tell you? ‘Oh, yes, Brian, I’m thinking about doing it, let me let you know what time and when it’ll take place.’… It’s sort of a foolish question — a little surprising for you, because you’re a smart man.”
Trump left the option of taking Kharg on the table as Iran continues to close the Strait of Hormuz to most international shipping, causing a global spike in oil prices, with Brent crude topping $102 per barrel as of Friday afternoon.
The two-week conflict hasn’t impacted the island — with Iran exporting more fuel than before the war started, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Experts say control of Kharg could have a massive impact.
“Take it out, and this means cutting off the military budget in addition to pulling the plug on the basic services that keep Iranian society functioning,” Mohammed Soliman, a senior fellow at the DC-based Middle East Institute, told The Post earlier this week.
“Losing Kharg for even a few weeks will create a security and societal crisis in Iran at the same time. Tehran doesn’t get to choose which one to deal with first,” said Soliman.
“The revenue shortfall would run into the billions monthly. You’d see the currency collapse further, inflation spike, subsidies buckle, and this will add more pressure on the country with no quick way to stop the bleeding.”
Such an operation would be the first confirmed use of US “boots on the ground” since the US-Israeli attack began on Feb. 28. There’s also speculation that Trump could order special forces onto Iran’s mainland to seize nuclear material at the Isfahan facility.
Trump told The Post on the third day of the war that he was open to deploying ground troops “if they were necessary.”
“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground,” he said on March 2. “Like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it.”
