Donald Trump, tired of being strung along by the “brotherhood” of IRGC commanders, former and current, who now run the show in Tehran, said Thursday that Kharg Island’s back in play.

A quick trip down memory lane’s in order. In mid-March, the US bombed the island. Prior to those strikes, which targeted military installations, Kharg hadn’t been hit in a systematic way by enemy munitions since the war with Iraq.

Oil and gas from Iran’s most significant fossil fuel reservoirs are piped into Kharg. Something like nine out of 10 exported Iranian barrels passes through the island. Trump in March spared the island’s energy infrastructure, but many worried the US would ultimately strike the outpost’s oil facilities a move which, depending on the severity of the damage, could set Iran’s energy sector back decades.

In the tense days following the strikes, the rumor mill was alive with reports that The White House was seriously considering an operation to seize the island, and troop movements appeared to support that suspicion.

Ultimately, Trump opted for a blockade of Iranian ports instead, preserving vital civilian infrastructure and sparing American lives, all while accomplishing more or less the same goal.

As the figure above reminds you, oil shipments from Kharg dried up entirely last month.

Fast forward to Thursday and, in the wake of the most intense tit-for-tat military exchanges since the April ceasefire, Trump said he’s going to capture Kharg after all.

“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of [Iran’s] Oil and Gas Markets,” he said, on social media, after previewing another round of apparently imminent US airstrikes.

In the same message, Trump boasted of commandeering Venezuela’s oil and strong-arming Delcy Rodriguez into accepting a “deal” that turned the country into a de facto colony. Venezuela, Trump said, “is working out brilliantly.”

Meanwhile, Scott Bessent vowed that Iran will pay for damage inflicted on America’s Gulf allies. Literally. “With funds extracted from Iranian Accounts,” as he put it.

In addition, “any tolls” paid to the newly-established, and quickly sanctioned, Persian Gulf Strait Authority “will be offset by funds extracted” from frozen Iranian assets, Bessent went on.

As for Trump’s threat, I doubt seriously he’ll follow through and seize Kharg. But if he does… well, suffice to say all bets would be well and truly off.