President Donald Trump has raised the idea of American forces seizing Iran’s Kharg Island, its main oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump told the Financial Times in an interview Monday. “It would also mean we had to be there (on Kharg Island) for a while.”
Iran has threatened to mine the Persian Gulf if its territory is invaded. The United States and Israel kept up their attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks. Iran struck a key water and electrical plant in hard-hit Kuwait, part of its ongoing campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states.
Trump also said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 ships carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday morning and continuing over the next few days “out of a sign of respect.”
“I would only say that we’re doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,” he said.
The war has already threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices.
2 members of Iranian exile group were executed
The members of the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq were hanged Monday in Iran, state media and the group said.
The two men were identified as Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taghavi. Daneshvarkar had been held for years prior. Amnesty International has said Tehran’s Revolutionary Court convicted the men on charges of armed rebellion against the state “following a grossly unfair trial in October 2024.” It said the men were tortured during interrogations.