White House adviser’s claim US could get ‘all of the oil’ out of Iran adds to troop speculation

Kharg Island is Iran’s main oil export terminal. Some experts say that seizing it will be US President Donald Trump’s next move, but doing would risk the lives of more US troops. Photo / Getty Images

United States President Donald Trump is considering seizing an Iranian island to choke off the regime’s oil revenues, a US official has suggested.

Jarrod Agen, a White House adviser, claimed the US would “not have to worry” about Tehran’s attempts to cut off the Strait of Hormuz while declaring it would get “all of the oil” out of Iranian hands.

It has prompted speculation that Trump, who has repeatedly refused to rule out putting boots on the ground, could be preparing to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal.

“What we want to do is to get such massive oil reserves in Iran out of the hands of terrorists,” Agen, the executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council, told Fox Business.

“Ultimately, we’re not going to have to worry about these issues in the Strait of Hormuz,” he claimed, referring to the passage between the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

“We’re going to get all of the oil out of the hands of terrorists.”

Trump is under pressure over disruption in the strait that has resulted in oil prices soaring in the US and around the world.

Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said sending soldiers to seize Kharg Island was a “no-brainer”.

Although American troops could be exposed to Iranian missiles and drones, the move would potentially choke off Tehran’s ability to bankroll its military, he told the Washington Post.

Yesterday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, admitted there had been a “slight increase” in prices at the petrol pump but insisted the cost was worth bearing to destroy Iran’s leadership.

“This is a short-term disruption for the long-term gain of taking out the rogue Iranian terrorist regime and finally ending their restriction of the free flow of energy in the Middle East and in the Strait of Hormuz,” she told Fox News.

The US President is “also tapping into our new-found market in Venezuela” to cut prices, Leavitt added.

Since US special forces seized Nicolas Maduro in January, Trump has sought to open Venezuela up to American oil companies and has secured more than 80 million barrels of Venezuelan oil.

Chris Wright, the US Energy Secretary, has insisted that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen soon, once the US has degraded Iran’s ability to attack ships with missiles and drones.

Should Trump send US troops to capture Kharg Island, he would probably wait until Tehran could not launch air strikes that could overwhelm air defences.

Since the outbreak of war on February 28, seven US service members have been killed.

Kharg Island’s infrastructure and tankers were heavily bombed by Saddam Hussein during Iraq’s war with Iran in the 1980s.

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