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'Grim and Stupid': Trump Hints at US Ground Invasion to Seize ‘Total Control’ of Iranian Oil
Senior officials have warned that an invasion of Iran’s Kharg Island could cause many American casualties. But Trump said the US would “make a fortune.”
Jun 11, 2026
While promising more strikes against Iran on Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested that the US would soon be "taking" Kharg Island in an imperialist bid to seize "total control" of the country's oil and gas market, an operation that would likely require ground troops.
“The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post, following days of strikes that hit military infrastructure and also damaged a pair of reservoirs that left around 20,000 people without drinking water.
“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America,” he added.
It's not the first time Trump has threatened to take the island, which handles about 90% of Iran's crude oil exports and is of paramount importance, as Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the US-Israeli war has sent oil prices skyrocketing and resulted in the most severe inflation the US has seen in over three years.
Like in Venezuela, where Trump said the point of the US operation to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro was to "get the oil flowing" to US corporations, the president said his objective in taking Kharg Island was explicitly about enriching the US by using raw force to commandeer Iran's natural resources.
Trump: "My preference has always been to take Kharg Island. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with it. You'd make a fortune." pic.twitter.com/5ub1HK4WMH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 11, 2026
"My preference has always been to take Kharg Island," he said on a phone interview with Fox News on Thursday morning. "I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you. You'd make a fortune..."
“We did it with Venezuela,” he continued. "Venezuela’s worked out great for everybody. We’ve taken millions and millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela. We’ve brought them to Houston and various other places, Louisiana. Refineries that we have that are incredible, they’ve gone 24 hours a day. Making a fortune.“
However, he said he wasn't sure that the country, which is strongly opposed to strikes against Iran according to recent polls, "has the appetite" for it.
As senior CNN political correspondent Aaron Blake explained, "it's widely assumed that taking and keeping Kharg Island would require ground troops," an idea that just 18% of Americans said they supported in a May survey from the Institute for Global Affairs. Even Republicans were more likely to oppose boots on the ground than to support them, according to that poll.
The Trump administration has had plans drawn up to invade the island as far back as March, but they were reportedly shelved as US officials feared large numbers of American casualties, especially as Iran had prepared for an invasion by laying anti-personnel and armor mines.
Despite being aware of the plan's unpopularity with the American public, Trump said on Thursday that taking Kharg Island would be "a guarantee if I want to do it."
President Trump is now publicly claiming that the United States will SEIZE KHARG ISLAND. What are the advantages to doing so, what are the disadvantages, and is this a viable strategy?
Let’s start with the disadvantages first, because… it’s grim. And stupid.
One of the key… pic.twitter.com/yZeVAPRB3D
— Brett Erickson (@BrettErickson28) June 11, 2026
Brett Erickson, a sanctions and geopolitical-risk expert who serves as managing principal of Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the idea was "grim and stupid."
“Their exports [from the island] are not even close to what they were prior to the war, or even throughout March and the first half of April,” he explained. “In the last five weeks, Iran has loaded a whopping one vessel at Kharg Island.”
He added that since the island is a "fixed position," it "would constantly come under fire from drones and missile barrages."
"We would likely, in the absolute best case, lose hundreds of lives," he said. Worst case? Well into the thousands. Would it change anything about the war? No. It literally would not matter."
The only thing to be gained, he added, would be "a lot of Americans dying for an oil export hub that is not being used, and that is blockaded anyway."
Asked by reporters on Capitol Hill about Trump's threats to invade the island, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hardly seemed bullish on the idea. He said he believed Trump was "communicating directly with our adversaries over there," adding, "I would not put too much stock in the details of that right now."
But the idea does have its cheerleaders. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is credited with helping Israel persuade Trump to launch the war in the first place.
The notorious war hawk, who previously compared taking Kharg Island favorably to the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, where the US suffered 26,000 casualties, said on Thursday that Trump was “right to put on the table the taking of Kharg Island” and thanked the president for “going the extra mile to obtain a diplomatic solution to the Iranian conflict.”
US Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) argued that invading the island without approval from Congress "would be brazenly unconstitutional."
"American troops would die during the invasion," he said. "And then every day Iran would try to kill more American troops on Kharg Island."
Four Republicans joined every Democrat last week to pass a war powers resolution meant to halt Trump's ability to wage war against Iran without approval from Congress.
In the wake of Trump's threats to invade the Island, Lieu said the "Senate must pass the House’s war powers resolution."
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'War Crimes': Analysis Suggests US Bombed Water Facilities Used by 20,000 Iranians in Precision Strike
"Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people," said one academic.
Jun 11, 2026
As temperatures in the village of Bemani, Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, reached above 100°F this week, two water facilities were struck by bombs, cutting off the drinking water supply for 20,000 people in the area.
An analysis by The New York Times late Wednesday indicated that the attack on the drinking-water storage facilities appeared to be a precision strike by the US, raising questions about whether the Trump administration intentionally attacked civilian infrastructure, which would constitute a war crime under international law.
As the provincial water authority in the area reported that two storage tanks had been destroyed in an attack early Wednesday, US Central Command said on social media that the US Air Force and Navy had used "precision munitions" to strike "Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz."
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted a video of damage to one of the facilities, whose light blue pipes were consistent with water infrastructure.
"As part of its aggression against Iran, the US military has deliberately struck vital civilian water infrastructure in Sirik, Hormozgan, destroying two reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2,500 cubic meters," said Baqaei. "These facilities supplied drinking water to more than 20,000 residents across ten villages. This is not collateral damage—it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. The US must be held accountable for committing such systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure."
The analysis of the strikes came as the US waged more attacks Wednesday night and early Thursday, including on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman and against Iranian radars and air defenses.
In its analysis, the Times said commercial satellite imagery showed two water facilities in Bemani whose descriptions matched those given by Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, the chief executive of the province’s water authority, on Wednesday, when he reported the structures had been damaged by missiles.
Hamzehpour said in a statement that the high temperatures in the area were “unbearable” for residents without drinking water, and said that mobile water tanks had been deployed to nearby villages.
The roof of one of the facilities collapsed, according to videos released by Iranian state media, and the center of the roof of the other structure appeared to have been struck by a bomb.
The Times noted that both buildings were remotely located, with no other infrastructure located in the immediate vicinity, suggesting a likely precision strike.
Tasnim, a semiofficial news agency in Iran, released photos of bomb fragments that it said were recovered from the site. Researchers with the Open Source Munitions Portal identified the fragments as parts of a GBU-39 bomb, which is used by the US Air Force.
The precision-guided bomb was "consistent with the damage shown in the footage of the damaged building: a clean hole punched through the building’s roof and limited blast damage around it," reported the Times.
Alleged U.S. airstrikes overnight hit two water storage reservoirs in Iran's Sirik County, Hormozgan Province, reportedly leaving many without water.Images of remnants posted by Iranian media show the remains of a U.S.-made GBU-39 air-delivered bomb.osmp.ngo/osmp2336/
[image or embed]
— Open Source Munitions Portal (@munitionsportal.bsky.social) June 10, 2026 at 3:30 PM
The bombing came as President Donald Trump complained that Tehran was taking too long to finalize a peace deal. The US and Iran have each carried out attacks this week, raising doubts about a ceasefire deal that was reached in April following Trump's threats to wipe out Iran's civilization.
"Trump is so angry that Iran will not give him a deal that he is telling the US military to commit war crimes," said Phillips P. O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. "Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people."
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Trump Bombs Iran for Second Night After Complaining Talks Have 'Taken Too Long'
One human rights expert noted that the president's complaint about the drawn-out talks came "even though he is the one who ripped up an entirely effective deal... and in February ended negotiations to start bombing."
Jun 10, 2026
US President Donald Trump bombed Iran for the second consecutive night on Wednesday after complaining on social media that Tehran has taken too long on peace negotiations and vowing to respond to the downing of an American military helicopter.
US Central Command said Tuesday that CENTCOM "forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5:00 pm ET today at the commander in chief's direction, in response to yesterday's downing of a US Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression."
Trump took to his Truth Social platform just after 7:00 am ET Wednesday, writing that "Iran's Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn't even exist anymore—They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"
Ken Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton University and the former longtime executive director of Human Rights Watch, noted that Trump's complaint about the drawn-out talks with Iran came "even though he is the one who ripped up an entirely effective deal... and in February ended negotiations to start bombing."
Trump unilaterally ended the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, during his first term. There has been no agreement in place since.
After Trump's strikes on Tuesday night, Iran fired at Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, which all host US troops. The recent exchanges cast further doubt on the ceasefire deal negotiated in April, after the American president's genocidal threat against Iran.
Later Wednesday, CENTCOM announced that US "forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 pm ET against multiple targets in Iran at the commander in chief's direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression."
Drop Site News reported that "as the strikes were announced, Iranian media reported a series of explosions across Hormozgan province, the southern Iranian province that borders the Strait of Hormuz," a key trade route through which Iran has largely restricted ship traffic since Iran and Israel began bombing the country in late February.
As Drop Site detailed:
- Sirik: At least four explosions were heard in the coastal town on the eastern side of the strait, according to Tasnim News, with a local source saying the blasts were coming from the sea.
- Minab: An explosion was reported near the city, about 60 miles east of Bandar Abbas, according to Mehr News.
- Korgan Port: Several explosions were also heard near the port area on the Gulf of Oman coast, according to Mehr News.
- Bandar Abbas: An explosion was also reported in Iran’s main commercial port and naval hub overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Fars Gulf Broadcasting Center.
Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and an expert on US-Iranian relations, said, "It appears the US/Israel-Iran war has started again... or perhaps more accurately, it never really ended."
Fox News' Trey Yingst reported on air late Wednesday that "President Trump told me that Iran called him tonight. Top Iranian officials and President Trump spoke directly, according to the commander in chief tonight, as the president was sitting in the Situation Room, and he told me that the Iranians asked them to stop bombing, and the president said to me, 'The bombing will stop shortly.'"
According to Reuters, Iran's media contradicted that reporting, with an unnamed senior Iranian official saying, "Trump's false claim that Iranian officials contacted him is a cover to evade war with Iran."
Asked by Yingst what will happen if the Iranians don't sign a new deal soon, Trump reportedly responded, "We'll bomb the shit out of them tomorrow night."
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