WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to take over Iran’s oil infrastructure hub Kharg Island but he was not sure Americans have the stomach for a major escalation in the war.
“My preference has always been – take Kharg Island … my preference would be that. I don’t know that America has the stomach for it,” he said in an interview on Fox News.
After more than three months of war, Iran still has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a critical supply route for oil and gas shipping, and has retained its stockpile of enriched uranium.
The U.S. and Iran traded air attacks on Thursday for a second day in a worsening of hostilities that has undermined prospects for a swift end to the war.
Trump said the U.S. will attack Iran again with intensified strikes but he would rather not hit bridges and power plants.
“There will be more bombing tonight. It will be bigger – bigger, more powerful,” he said on the “Fox & Friends” program.
Despite plans for more strikes, Trump said the U.S. is still talking with Iran to reach a deal.
The White House did not immediately respond to a question on whether the ceasefire agreed in April remains in place.
Iranian sources and Western officials said indirect U.S.-Iranian talks on a preliminary peace deal had intensified.
Trump expressed frustration with media coverage of the Iran war as well as Iran’s incalcitrance.
“The whole thing is crazy,” Trump said. “They’re really in submission. They just don’t know it yet.”
The war has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and pushed up global oil prices since the U.S. and Israel launched heavy air strikes on Iran on February 28.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu, Katharine Jackson; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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