Tag: natural resources

Trump Says He Wants to “Take the Oil” in Iran

President Donald Trump has suggested the United States may try to take over Iran’s oil the way it did with Venezuela’s, per a Financial Times interview.

“To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” Trump told the FT.

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” the U.S. president also told the publication, adding. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”

Kharg Island is Iran’s oil hub, handling 90% of the country’s oil exports. The island lies beyond the Strait of Hormuz, however, which would make taking it a challenge, as noted by various military experts. According to official Pentagon statements, the U.S. has bombed as many as 90 targets on Kharg Island but these have not included oil facilities or infrastructure, per President Trump himself.

“We can do that on five minutes’ notice. It’ll be over,” Trump said earlier this month, referring to the pipelines connecting mainland Iran to Kharg Island. “Just one simple word, and the pipes will be gone too. But it’ll take a long time to rebuild that.”

That one simple word has yet to be pronounced, it seems, even as Trump told the FT on Sunday that “I don’t think they have any defence. We could take it [Kharg Island] very easily.”

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IRGC targets US-linked aluminum industries in coordinated missile-drone strike

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced targeting two industries connected to US military and aerospace sectors in a combined missile and drone operation.

In a statement on Saturday, the Corps said the strikes were carried out jointly by its Aerospace Force and Navy in response to “the malicious actions of the US-Zionist enemy targeting the industrial infrastructure of our beloved country from the Persian Gulf’s littoral states.”

The two targeted facilities were identified as the Emirates Aluminum (EMAL) plant and the Aluminum Bahrain (ALBA) plant.

The statement highlighted their strategic significance, noting that EMAL houses the world’s longest aluminum production line with a capacity of 1.3 million tons, while ALBA operates with American investment and shareholding. The latter, it added, “plays a significant role in supplying the military-industrial production of the US terrorist army.”

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Trump Threatens Oil Facilities After US Strikes Iran’s Kharg Island

Following a US strike on the military infrastructure of Kharg Island, Trump warned that Iran’s

oil facilities would be targeted if ships aren’t permitted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The bombing of Kharg Island’s military infrastructure follows reports that the US has sent a roughly 5000-strong amphibious ready group and marine expeditionary group to the Middle East.

Commenting on the US strike from Truth Social, President Trump said:

“Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.

“Our Weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the World has ever known but, for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island.”

“However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”

According to Fars News Agency, an Iranian outlet with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), targets hit included the island’s air-defense systems, a naval base, a helicopter hangar, and the airport control tower. Over 15 explosions were reported.

Kharg Island is Iran’s main export hub for petroleum products with 90 percent of Iranian crude oil being distributed through its facilities.

Iran exported between 1.1 million and 1.5 million barrels per day from the start of the war to Wednesday last week.

As such, the island was frequently targeted during the Iran-Iraq War due to its strategic importance, serving as an economic lifeline of the IRGC.

Iran has already threatened retaliation against the Gulf states should any of them attack the country’s energy infrastructure.

Trump’s threat comes the day after Mojtaba Khameini, the new Supreme Leader of Iran, declared in his first public statement that Iran would continue its blockade of the Strait throughout the war.

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US will ‘make a ton of money’ from Iran war – senator

The US will control almost a third of the world’s oil and make record profits if it succeeds in toppling the Iranian government, hawkish Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Sunday.

Graham made the comments as global oil prices surged past $100 per barrel, which US President Donald Trump dismissed as “a very small price to pay” for the US-Israeli war against Iran, which was launched on February 28.

Graham described the cost of the attacks as the “best money ever spent,” arguing that the purpose is to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons – which Iran has denied that it intends to do, insisting that its nuclear program is peaceful.

“When this regime goes down, we’re going to have a new Middle East, we are going to make a ton of money. Nobody will threaten the Strait of Hormuz again,” Graham said, adding that the US will install a “friendly” government in Tehran.

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Israel Air Force strikes Iranian oil facilities, military source says

IDF sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night that the air force has attacked significant oil resources in the Tehran region of Iran.

According to the sources, the oil resources being attacked are directly connected to Iran’s military industrial complex.

It was unclear what distinctions the IDF would make in such attacks regarding differing oil sites, but there was a clear effort by the sources to emphasize the military nature of the sites, which might otherwise be framed as harming Iran’s economic power more broadly, even if a new regime might later take over.

In the past, senior Israeli sources have told the Post that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has in recent years taken over certain portions of the economy, especially in the oil sector.

Iranian opposition reports indicated that as many as 30 sites might be under attack.

This vector of attack on the Islamic regime‘s power is the newest front after prior attacks on air defenses, ballistic missiles, top Iranian leaders, ballistic missile supply chain locations, and regime repression forces.

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Trump’s Venezuela Oil Plan Runs Into Hard Reality

Last week US President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela’s interim authorities will turn over up to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States, before later declaring his administration will control Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely”.

Decrying the state of Venezuela’s oil sector, including that the South American country now pumps a fraction of what it used to, Trump said, “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”

While that sounds like a great opportunity for the US oil majors, it’s one they may want to refuse. Why? Because the oil underneath Venezuela, which has the largest crude reserves in the world, greater even than Saudi Arabia and Iran, is technically challenging to extract and costly.

Moreover, it’s uncertain whether there would a change in the way Venezuela and its oil industry are being run, which presents a huge political risk for companies to return and operate there.

Former President Hugo Chavez nationalized the oil industry in the 1990s, and in 2007, he forced Exxon and ConocoPhillips out, after the companies refused to accept new terms that would give the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, a majority share in their projects.

ConocoPhillips is still owed about $10 billion.

Only Chevron is currently authorized to operate in Venezuela and export crude to the United States.

“Until Caracas has a new government capable of gaining the confidence of international investors and banks, oil companies will be reluctant to make any major commitments,” states a recent Reuters piece.

When Trump met with oil executives last Friday, Exxon’s CEO Darren Woods said, “We’ve had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes.”

Trump has said the US government is prepared to provide security guarantees but not money for oil projects.

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The Iran War’s Most Precious Commodity Isn’t Oil

The CIA calls it the “strategic commodity” of the Middle East. But it’s not referring to oil or natural gas. What the American spy agency has in mind is far more prosaic: drinking water. Don’t underestimate it, though, because if military hostilities continue to escalate, water could become the geopolitical commodity that decides the war between the US and Iran.

The Persian Gulf is gifted with a fabulous hydrocarbon endowment, worth trillions of dollars. What its desertic countries don’t have is water. From the 1970s onward, the oil money bought a solution: desalination plants. Today, the region relies on nearly 450 facilities to stop everyone going thirsty.

The US Central Intelligence Agency has been briefing American policymakers for decades on the inherent risk of relying on those plants for such a crucial supply. In a secret assessment in the early 1980s — since declassified — the CIA said: “Senior government officials in some of the countries perceive it [water] as more important than oil to the national well-being.”

More than four decades later, not much has changed. Desalination remains a relatively cost-effective technology to transform sea water into drinking water. The downside is the vulnerability of the installations, and the oil and gas consumption required to fire the power generators that run the plants.

About 100 million people live in the countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — all now under Iranian attack. Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE are, for all practical purposes, completely dependent on the desalination plants, particularly for metropolises such as Dubai. Saudi Arabia, and especially its capital, Riyadh, also relies heavily on them.

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South Florida residents react to Trump administration’s decision to sell Venezuelan oil to Cuban private businesses

People across South Florida are reacting to a major shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba, following the federal government’s announcement that it will allow fuel imports for the island’s private sector.

The Trump administration has given the green light for Venezuelan oil to be sold to Cuba’s private businesses, not the Cuban government. Supporters say the policy could help ease severe shortages that have crippled daily life on the island, while critics fear the Cuban government could still benefit indirectly.

Some residents say, in theory, the plan could offer relief to Cuba’s struggling economy. Others question whether the Cuban government can truly be kept out of the process.

“This really tells me that the Trump administration, particularly the president, is more interested in business than he is in regime change,” said Andy S. Gomez, a retired dean of international studies at the University of Miami.

Others believe the move could help everyday Cubans who have been hit hardest by the country’s worsening crisis.

“If he doesn’t do it, I don’t know that anyone else will,” said Armando Parada.

Still, many remain unconvinced.

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Is the Cartel Uprising in Mexico a Pretext for a U.S. Resource Grab?

Coordinated outbreaks of cartel violence have struck parts of western Mexico, particularly in the states of Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Michoacán. According to statements from Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and citizen reports carried by national outlets, armed groups set fire to cargo trucks and private vehicles, blocked major highways linking Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta, and exchanged gunfire with federal security forces. Authorities confirmed multiple fatalities, including suspected cartel members and security personnel, while local governments urged residents in affected municipalities to remain indoors as a precaution.

Commercial flights at Puerto Vallarta International Airport experienced temporary delays amid road blockades, though federal officials said core infrastructure remained operational. Security analysts described the unrest as consistent with past cartel retaliation tactics designed to demonstrate territorial control rather than sustained combat. Reports of kidnappings, however, such as a group of tourists from Mexico City abducted in Mazatlán, underscore the human toll.

Setup for U.S. Supply Chains?

This turmoil is unfolding against a backdrop of critical mineral production. Mexico holds vast reserves of lithium, silver, and other critical minerals essential for batteries, electronics, and the Western surveillance capitalism economy — think data centers, electric vehicles, and AI infrastructure. The U.S. Geological Survey identifies Mexico as a top producer of eight critical minerals; it is the world’s largest silver producer and boasts untapped lithium deposits in Sonora. CJNG [i.e., Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación] territories overlap key mining areas, like silver-rich Guanajuato and Jalisco, where cartels extort operations and kidnap workers.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to deploy U.S. military to “sweep away the cartels” may mask deeper concerns about securing supply chains and defending them from China. Echoing historical interventions, such rhetoric recalls propaganda expert Edward Bernays’ campaign in the 1950s, portraying Guatemala’s Jacobo Árbenz as a communist threat to justify a CIA-backed coup over United Fruit Company interests — creating the “banana republic” trope.

Today’s media frenzy over cartel violence, amplified by outlets framing Mexico as a narco-state, could serve as similar propaganda to rationalize invasion. Corruption plagues Mexico, with cartels infiltrating politics. President Claudia Sheinbaum, rejecting Trump’s offers, argued that aggressive tactics against narcos violate legal frameworks and human rights, and prioritized due process over confrontation. Yet, her administration faces criticism for leniency, as violence surges despite claims of restored normalcy. Amid unconfirmed evacuation rumors — amid her appeals for calm — the cartels’ real grip on Mexico could provide the U.S. with a modern “banana republic” excuse.

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US Military Boards 3rd Sanctioned Oil Tanker on the Indian Ocean, Pentagon Announces

U.S. military forces boarded a third sanctioned oil tanker on the Indian Ocean after it was tracked from the Caribbean Sea, officials announced Tuesday.

The Pentagon stated that U.S. military forces boarded the Bertha vessel overnight without incident, according to a post on X. Video footage included in the post shows military helicopters flying around the vessel.

“Three boats ran and now all three have been captured,” the Department of War stated. “The vessel was operating in defiance of President [Donald] Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean and attempted to evade. From the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, we tracked it and stopped it. No other nation has the global reach, endurance, or will to enforce sanctions at this distance.”

The post added that the military would continue to “deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.”

The Bertha, which flies under a Cook Islands flag, is linked to Shanghai Legendary Ship Management Company Limited and falls under sanctions imposed in January 2020, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas by U.S. forces in January, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration would move to enforce a quarantine of sanctioned oil tankers operating to and from Venezuela.

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