New York, March 31
As the Israel-United States campaign against Iran veered off course from its claimed aims and began hitting global economies, President Donald Trump told his allies on Tuesday, "The hard part is done. Go get your own oil," hinting he may be ready to wind down the war without a definitive opening of the Hormuz Strait.
Trump's hint came after a Wall Street Journal report on Monday that he told aides he would be willing to drop demands on opening the Strait, leaving it for a later date, and would concentrate on degrading Iran's missile and navy.
The newspaper did not identify its sources, and the White House did not react to the report.
In his post, Trump told allies, "You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won't be there to help you anymore."
He added, "Build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT."
The statement came as the price of Brent crude oil hit $116 a barrel on Tuesday, appearing to mollify battered stock markets, sending the Dow Jones Index up 422 points or nearly 1 per cent by mid-day.
However, uncertainty clouded the statement and the report about his intent. If Iran held the key to the Strait, there was no guarantee of oil getting unhindered through the chokehold on 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas supplies.
If the attacks on Iran's missile sites and navy continued, Tehran's retaliations paralysing Gulf oil production and transportation would also persist. Iran set ablaze a Kuwaiti oil ship in an escalation on Tuesday.
Trump claimed that one of his initial objectives, regime change, had been achieved, and a "new, and more reasonable, regime" was in place.
He said there was "great progress" in "serious talks" with the Iranians, who had established their bonafides by allowing 20 ships with oil to cross the Strait.
Iran denied talks were taking place but admitted messages were exchanged with the United States through intermediaries.
During the Iran war in its second month, far longer than Trump had predicted, he has walked back on several policies because of domestic pressures with mid-term elections coming up in November.
Petrol prices had hit about $4 a gallon (3.8 litres), shooting up from about $3 per gallon at the start of the war in late February.
Most notable, and puzzling, was his turnaround on lifting some sanctions on Iran selling oil, even while fighting it.
"I just want to have as much oil in the system as possible, and we don't even know if Iran gets that money," he said, justifying it.
Earlier, he had allowed India to buy Russian oil on ships after imposing a 25 per cent tariff on New Delhi for buying energy from Moscow.
This week, he allowed Russia to supply oil to Cuba, which was reeling from a humanitarian crisis due to the energy shutdown.
He had earlier asserted that the virtual embargo would achieve his goal of regime change in Havana.
- IANS
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