US President Donald Trump said on Monday that if it were up to him, the United States would take control of Iran’s oil, but he said the American people would probably not understand such a move.
He stated, “We are obliterating their country. And I hate to do it, but we’re obliterating it. They just don’t want to say ‘uncle.’ They don’t want to cry as the expression goes ‘uncle,’ but they will. And if they don’t, They’ll have no bridges. They’ll have no power plants. They’ll have no anything. I won’t go further because there are other things that are worse than those two. And we might have, well, the thing, if I had my choice, what would I like to do? Take the oil because it’s there for the taking. There’s not a thing they can do about it. Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I’d take the oil. I’d keep the oil. I would make plenty of money.”
Trump further said the Tuesday deadline he has set for Iran to make a deal is final, calling Iran’s peace proposal significant but not good enough. “They made a proposal, and it’s a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough,” he told reporters during an Easter egg event for children at the White House.
“It could end very quickly, the war, if they do what they have to do. They have to do certain things. They know that, they’ve been negotiating I think in good faith,” he said.
Trump’s senior aides have been negotiating with Iran indirectly through Pakistan, attempting to get a deal in which Iran will forswear nuclear weapons and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the oil transit waterway. Iran said it wanted a permanent end to the war, not just a temporary ceasefire.
He went on to say, “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon… They just don’t want to say ‘uncle.’ They don’t want to cry, as the expression goes, ‘uncle’ – but they will. And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges. They’ll have no power plants. They’ll have no anything.”
Trump said it appeared the latest team representing the Iranian government is “not as radicalised” as others who have been killed in airstrikes,. “We think they’re actually smarter,” he said.
He has warned US forces will unleash broad attacks on Iranian infrastructure if his Tuesday night deadline is not met. Iran has rejected Trump’s deadline.