Trump mulls seizing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal

U.S. President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf as the United States and Israel kept up their attacks on Monday, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks.

Pakistan announced Sunday that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran, though it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.

Iran received messages via intermediaries indicating Washington’s willingness to negotiate, but deemed U.S. ​proposals to be “unrealistic, illogical ​and excessive,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson ​Esmaeil Baghaei on ⁠Monday.

At the same time, with 2,500 U.S. marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, Trump raised the idea of a ground operation.

In the interview with the Financial Times, Trump suggested it could mean a longer-term commitment if the U.S. tries to take Kharg Island, saying “it would mean we had to be there for a while.”

“I don’t think they have any defence,” he added. “We could take it very easily.”

The U.S. has already launched airstrikes against military positions on the island. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and to mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops land on its territory.

Getting an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf. Experts say that holding the island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.

Trump on Monday on social media said “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran but threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure if a deal to end the war is not reached soon.

Trump has not stated who the U.S. is negotiating with. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on Feb. 28. His son and successor has not seen in public since, and a host of other top Iranian officials have been killed.

Oil prices rise again

Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent prices for oil, gas, fertilizer, plastic and aluminum surging, along with fuel for planes and shipping.

As pressure has grown on Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the U.S. has presented Iran a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the strait to shipping. Iran, meantime, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.

In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around $115 US, up nearly 60 per cent from when the U.S. and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

The spike in prices has been particularly bad news for Asia, as much of the region is highly dependent on energy from the Middle East. South Korea is considering extending driving curbs to the general public if crude prices rise to around $120–$130 US a barrel, Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said on Sunday.

Europe’s heavy reliance on energy imports has left it exposed to spiraling prices, as well. European ‌gas prices have jumped more than 70 per cent since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb. 28.

European Union energy ministers will hold talks on Tuesday to co-ordinate their response to the ​disruption and the war, an internal EU briefing document showed. The ‌document said ministers should focus their efforts on filling gas storage for next winter and on stabilizing oil product markets.

The EU says its oil and gas supplies remain secure in the short term, ​since the bloc’s top suppliers are Norway and the United States.

Pakistan’s foreign minister said on the weekend that Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the strait, at a rate of two ships per day.

Iran attacks Israel

Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Monday, and kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours.

Israel’s military said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with a missile attack.

As well, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa, one of only two in Israel, either from a missile strike or from debris falling from an interception. The blaze was quickly extinguished.

In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Desalination plants remain crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged one in Bahrain. The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.

Israel’s military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking “military infrastructure” across Tehran. Iranian media also reported that one of the facilities of Tabriz Petrochemical was struck in a northern province of the country. They said no hazardous materials had been released.

In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south on Sunday.

The peacekeeper was the first from the UN force known as UNIFIL to be killed in the current war.

“We do not know the origin ​of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances,” UNIFIL said.

It followed a weekend in which at least 10 paramedics and three journalists were killed in Israeli strikes. UN Security General Antonio Guterres and Gregory Galligan, Canada’s ambassador to Lebanon, were among those condemning the deaths and calling for the protection of peacekeepers.

Israel’s military said on Monday that a sixth soldier had been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, while Lebanon’s armed forces said one of its soldiers had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

U.S.-based rights group HRANA says nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Iran, including 1,550 civilians, while authorities in Lebanon say nearly 1,240 people have been killed there. Over 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since it fired on Israel on March 2, sources told Reuters, but it is unclear if the official death toll includes those fighters.

At least 100 people have been killed ⁠in Iraq and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.