Middle East crisis live: Trump says he wants to ‘take the oil’ in Iran and could seize Kharg Island ‘easily’

<p>US president tells Financial Times his ‘preference would be to take the oil’ but that ‘some stupid people back in the US say: “why are you doing that?”’</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/29/iran-accuses-us-plotting-ground-assault-publicly-seeking-talks">Full report: Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/29/what-the-houthis-entry-into-the-iran-war-means-for-the-conflict-and-the-wider-region">Analysis: what the Houthis’ entry into the Iran war means for the conflict and the wider region</a></p></li></ul><p><strong>Donald Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds (454kg) of uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal is reporting</strong>, citing unnamed US officials.</p><p>The mission would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-weighs-military-operation-to-extract-irans-uranium-37427c8b?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_1">the report</a> says.</p><p>But the president remains generally open to the idea, according to the officials, because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon.</p><p>The combined effect of both waterways being shut to commercial traffic from countries that neither the Iranians nor <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/houthi">Houthis</a> favour would be devastating.</p><p>Napoleon Bonaparte’s remark that “the policy of a state lies in its geography” has never seemed more apt.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/30/iran-war-live-updates-trump-oil-kharg-island-houthis-israel-lebanon-mid