Amid a day with dozens of threats and escalating rhetoric toward Iran, President Trump took a significant step back on one key issue for energy markets: a US campaign to control Iran’s oil.
“I’d like to take the oil because it’s there for the taking,” the president told reporters at the White House easter egg roll. “Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home.”
The president said multiple times on Monday that he personally wants to take the oil. “We’d make plenty of money,” he said
But the president repeatedly acknowledged that there might not be political will for such a move, which would likely require a ground operation, saying, “I just don’t think the people of the United States would really understand.”
“I’m a businessman first,” Trump said, recounting the operation in Venezuela that saw the US take some oil proceeds. He expressed nostalgia for previous eras when “to the winner belong the spoils.”
Read more: What an extended war with Iran could mean for gas prices
Monday’s comments — which came between ever-escalating threats to annihilate Iran’s bridges and electric grid as early as Tuesday night — appear to lessen the odds of a potential US operation that energy traders and observers have been watching closely for weeks.
An operation to seize Iranian oil would be risky and costly and would likely require the use of ground troops to take strategic points like Kharg Island, a seaport that handles up to 90% of Iran’s oil exports.
Read more: How oil price shocks ripple through your wallet, from gas to groceries
Going further and seizing Iranian oil production itself, which is predominantly drilled onshore in the southwestern portion of the nation, would be an even more complex operation.
For weeks, Trump has repeatedly teased the idea of taking the oil.
Last Friday, the president posted, “KEEP THE OIL, ANYONE?” after another message earlier that day suggested that taking the oil would be easy with “a little more time” and that the world would make a fortune in response.
The ongoing US operation has included missile attacks on Kharg Island, but Trump and his aides have repeatedly said that only military targets were hit and oil infrastructure was spared.
Other times, Trump has threatened to go further, suggesting destroying Iran’s oil infrastructure.
The president posted on March 30 that he might leave Iran, but only after “blowing up and completely obliterating” targets like Kharg Island.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
