As tensions escalate in the ongoing war with Iran, Donald Trump on Monday (local time) shared a clip from a 1987 television interview, reviving his old remarks in which he argued for seizing Iranian oil assets as a response to attacks.
In the resurfaced clip, Trump criticised what he described as American weakness and suggested direct action against Iran’s oil infrastructure. “Why couldn’t we go in and take over some of their oil, which is along the sea?” he can be heard saying in the clip. Track US-Iran war live updates
The video dates back to a December 1987, from ABC’s segment 20/20, where a 41-year-old Trump spoke to journalist Barbara Walters about US strategy in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War era. At the time, Iran was targeting oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route.
When the interviewer asked how such a move would play out, pointing to the risks of escalation or military involvement, Trump responded bluntly: “You go in… you take the oil… Let Iran fight their own war. You take their oil.”
‘Grab it and keep it’
The clip goes further, with Trump advocating a more aggressive response if Iran attacked the US again.
“The next time Iran attacks this country, go in and grab one of their big oil installations, I mean grab it and keep it, and get back your losses, because this country has lost plenty because of Iran.”
He doubled down on the argument, warning against what he saw as a lack of resolve: “You get in trouble with weakness.”
Trump also dismissed concerns about possible Soviet intervention at the time, saying, “I don’t think they would (intervene)”.
US President’s latest ‘obliterate’ warning
The resurfaced interview comes as Trump issued a stark new warning to Tehran, tying military escalation that began on February 28 with the killing of Iran Sureme Leader in a joint US-Israel strike – to the status of the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on Truth Social, he said the US was in talks with what he described as a “more reasonable” regime, adding that progress had been made toward ending military operations.
However, he warned of severe consequences if a deal is not reached and if the Strait is not reopened. Trump said, “If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘open for business,’” he added that the US would escalate its response.
He then laid out what that escalation could look like: “We will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island.”
Trump added that “possibly all desalination plants” could also be targeted, noting these sites have “purposefully not yet [been] touched.”
He said the move would come “in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed” over what he called the regime’s “47 year ‘reign of terror.’”
