Trump considers seizing Iranian island even as diplomatic talks move ahead

Thousands of US marines are heading to the Middle East (US Central Command via AP)

Donald Trump has openly considered seizing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf amid continued attacks by the United States and Israel on the Islamic Republic – even as signs of progress emerged in ceasefire talks.

Tehran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait as part of its ongoing campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states.

As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan toward ending the war continues, US president Mr Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting on Monday as “a sign of respect”.

At the same time, with 2,500 US marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, Mr Trump raised the idea of taking Iran’s Kharg Island.

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t,” he told the Financial Times in an interview published early on Monday. “We have a lot of options.”

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel’s main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days.

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

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province. Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defences.

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.

The war has displaced many people in Lebanon (AP)

Desalination plants remain crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war.

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 on the ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.

Over the weekend, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the “existing security strip” in the south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia.

Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.

Iranian missiles struck in Beersheba, southern Israel (AP)

As pressure has grown on Mr Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran, meanwhile, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.

Pakistan announced on Sunday that it would soon host talks between the US and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.

The Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar the talks would be held “in the coming days”.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday that the US was negotiating “directly and indirectly” with Iran, though Iran has insisted that it has not been in any talks with Washington.

“We’re doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,” Mr Trump said.

Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after more US troops to get to the area. He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever”, according to state media.

In the interview with the Financial Times, Trump suggested it could mean a longer-term commitment if the US decided to try and 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.”