Trump Eyes Kharg Island       03/30 05:51

   U.S. President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Iran's Kharg Island 
oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the United States and Israel kept up their 
attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in 
nascent ceasefire talks.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump openly mused 
about seizing Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the 
United States and Israel kept up their attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, 
even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks. Tehran, 
meanwhile, attacked a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, part of its 
campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states, and an oil refinery in northern Israel.

   As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan toward ending the war 
moved ahead, Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the 
Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as "a sign of respect." At the same time, with 
2,500 U.S. Marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, 
he 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 Monday. "We have a lot of options."

   Iran launches attacks on Israel and hits more infrastructure targets in Gulf 
states

   Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel's main nuclear research center, 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 their first 
missile attack.

   Later, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa, 
one of only two in Israel, either from a missile strike or from debris falling 
from an interception. The blaze was quickly extinguished.

   Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors, 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 defenses.

   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.

   Desalination plants are 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, and explosions were heard in 
the Iranian capital. Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in 
Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had 
to put out a blaze.

   In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper 
was killed and three others were 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 
that country's south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.

   Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow

   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.

   In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international 
standard, was around $115, up nearly 60% from when the U.S. and Israel started 
the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

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

   Pakistan announced Sunday that it would soon host talks between the U.S. 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.

   Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar the talks would be held "in the coming 
days."

   Trump says diplomatic approach going well but suggests military expansion is 
possible

   Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday that the U.S. 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," Trump 
said.

   Earlier, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the 
talks in Pakistan as a cover to get more U.S. troops into 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 U.S. 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 defense," he added. "We could take it very 
easily."

   The U.S. already launched airstrikes once that targeted military positions 
on the island. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf 
Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops land on its territory.

   To get an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the 
Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf. Experts say that holding the 
island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and 
drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.

   Iran on Monday confirmed that the head of the Revolutionary Guard's navy, 
Rear Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Israel 
claimed last week. The Republican Guard praised the admiral's efforts in 
statement, particularly in helping Iran keep its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

   "Every fighter is a Tangsiri, and we will see what surprises they will bring 
in the days and months ahead," it said.

   Death toll climbs

   In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 
have been reported dead in Israel.

   In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed and more 
than 1 million have been displaced. Israel announced Monday that another of its 
soldiers had been killed there, the sixth during the war.

   In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 
80 members of the security forces have died.

   In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the 
occupied West Bank.

   Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed in the war.