Trump mulls seizing Iranian island even as diplomatic talks appear to be moving ahead

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — 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, struck a key water and electrical plant in hard-hit Kuwait, part of its ongoing campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states.

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.”

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 its first missile attack.

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 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 by 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 that country’s 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.

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 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 after more U.S. 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 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.

In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed and more than 1 million have been displaced. Five Israeli soldiers have also lost their lives.

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

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.

Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami, Florida and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this story.

Residents inspect a damaged house following an Iranian missile strike in Shefaram Israel, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

This image from video provided by U.S. Central Command shows U.S. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli arriving in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 27, 2026. (U.S. Central Command via AP)

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Members of the Basij paramilitary force stand at a checkpoint in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Displaced people who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit inside tents used as shelters as a rainbow breaks through the rain in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Carrying her belongings a woman crosses the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iran and Iraq, near Basra, Iraq, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

In this photo released by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from left, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan walk prior to their meeting to discuss the Middle East war, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

This image from video provided by U.S. Central Command shows U.S. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) arriving in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 27, 2026. (U.S. Central Command via AP)

Wall Street was poised to open the week with gains on Monday as oil prices continued their climb and prospects for an end to the Iran war remained uncertain.

Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all climbed 0.6% before the opening bell. Wall Street closed on Friday with its fifth straight losing week, its longest such streak in nearly four years.

Benchmark U.S. crude jumped $1.20 to $100.84 a barrel. Futures for Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 2.1% to $107.54 a barrel. Before the war, Brent had been priced at about $70 a barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure if a deal to end the war with Tehran is not reached soon.

In a social media post, Trump said “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations but bristled that if a deal is not reached and if the strategic Hormuz Strait is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).”

About one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the Hormuz Strait.

On the ground, the war showed no sign of letting up: Tehran struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran.

There was little corporate news to trade on early Monday, though shares of Sysco tumbled 5.7% after the nation’s largest food distributor said it would acquire supplier Restaurant Depot in a deal worth more than $29 billion.

The acquisition would create a closer link between Sysco and customers that rely on Restaurant Depot for supplies needed quickly in an industry segment known as “cash-and-carry wholesale.”

Restaurant Depot shareholders will receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares.

Markets in Asia closed broadly lower Monday as worries continued about soaring oil prices and the potential for further escalation in war with Iran, but shares rose moderately in Europe.

France's CAC 40 rose 0.4% at midday, while Germany's DAX added 0.3%. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.9%.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 2.8% to finish at 51,885.85. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 8,461.00. South Korea's Kospi dove 3.0% to 5,277.30. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 24,750.79, while the Shanghai Composite reversed course in the afternoon and was up 0.2% at 3,923.29.

In Japan and the rest of Asia worries continue to grow about the effective lack of access to the Strait of Hormuz as the region relies greatly on such access for oil shipments.

Investors are now bracing for the war to last for some time, which would likely set off inflation in global markets, and eventually may stunt Asia's economic growth.

“Although we do not expect the conflict to be protracted, we anticipate heightened volatility in the near term,” said Xavier Lee, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research.

Alarm has been resounding in Japan about the declining value of the yen. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.51 Japanese yen from 160.32 yen. The euro cost $1.1482, down from $1.1510.

“In addition to the crude oil futures market, speculative activity is also said to be increasing in the foreign exchange market," Vice Finance Minister Atsushi Mimura said.

“As we have already stated, we will respond on all fronts, and our focus is spread in all directions,” he told reporters, without giving specifics on the possible action.

AP journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.

A general view shows the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, March 27, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Workers walk in an area at a degassing station in Zubair oil field, whose operations have being reduced due to the Mideast war triggered by the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, near Basra, Iraq, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A person walks by an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index in Tokyo Monday, March 30, 2026. (Yusuke Hashizume/Kyodo News via AP)

A dealer walks near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Dealers work near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Dealers work near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)