Trump raises prospect of taking Iran’s oil and again weighs seizing Kharg Island

A staff fills up gas in a customer's car at a gasoline station in Tokyo, Japan, on March 25.

As the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, blocking Middle Eastern oil from flowing to the rest of the world, countries are beginning to feel the bite of depleting oil stocks — with Asia feeling the impact first as the shock moves westward, warned JPMorgan in a report released last week.

Typically, oil shipments from the Persian Gulf reach Asia first, in 10 to 20 days, before arriving in Europe and Africa in about 20 to 35 days, then finally to the United States after about 35 to 45 days.

This “rolling supply disruption moving westward” is why Asia is first to feel the squeeze, the report said. The last oil tanker departed the strait on February 28, it added – and these last shipments before the war have already mostly dried up.

Southeast Asia will be hit especially hard. “The primary challenge has shifted from price to physical scarcity,” according to the report, citing a 41% month-on-month fall in oil exports to the region.

Africa will be next, with the impact growing larger by early April – though this depends on local stock levels and how dependent countries are on imported oil. Early signs of stress are emerging, with Kenya experiencing fuel shortages at the retail level, while Tanzania still maintains adequate stocks, said JPMorgan.

Europe will likely feel the impact by mid-April, though it has the advantage of a strong inventory buffer and alternative Atlantic Basin supply.

The US will be last to feel the blow, according to the report. Since the US has substantial domestic production, it likely won’t feel direct short-term physical shortages – though California is particularly vulnerable to supply challenges, and the country will continue facing higher prices.

Damaged US E-3 Awac plane.

The destruction of a US Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft in an Iranian strike on a Saudi Arabia air base could damage US abilities to spot incoming Iranian threats at distance, analysts say.

Dramatic images of the wrecked aircraft, geolocated by CNN, show its tail broken off and its distinct rotating radar dome –– a critical part of the airborne warning and control system, or AWACS –– on the ground at the Prince Sultan Air Base.

The loss of the AWACS is “a serious blow to (US) surveillance capabilities,” said CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton, a former US Air Force colonel who has flown on the aircraft.

“It can potentially impact (US) ability to control combat aircraft and vector them to their targets or protect them from engagements of hostile aircraft and missile systems,” he said.

CNN has reached out to US Central Command for comment on the destruction of the aircraft.

The AWACS enables airborne monitoring of up to 120,000 square miles of battlespace from the ground to the stratosphere, and it has been a vital component of US fighting forces for decades. The fleet of 17 E-3s, and America’s experience using them over the years, is seen by analysts as a major advantage enjoyed by Washington.

A US Air Force E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System plane is seen at Prince Sultan Air Base on March 11, 2026.

Images of the destroyed aircraft began appearing on social media sites over the weekend. CNN geolocated the images to the air base in central Saudi Arabia by comparing them to a satellite image from March 11, which showed the E-3 aircraft at the same location in the recent photos.

CNN had previously reported that an attack on the air base left at least 10 US service members injured. No fatalities were reported.

A CNN crew was forced into a bunker mid-interview as sirens sounded near the Israel-Lebanon border. The incident underscores the volatility along the border area, where Israeli military operations have shifted the front line and displaced nearby Lebanese communities.

CNN’s Jim Sciutto explains how Israel’s expansion into Lebanon is playing out:

CNN team takes cover near Israel-Lebanon border

While reporting near Israel’s border with Lebanon, CNN’s Jim Sciutto and his crew were forced into a bunker as sirens sounded during an interview with local resident and security force volunteer Nissan Zeevi. No one on the team was hurt. The incident underscores the volatility along the border area, where Israeli military operations have shifted the front line and displaced nearby Lebanese communities.

01:59 • Source: CNN

CNN team takes cover near Israel-Lebanon border

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Remember: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday he ordered the expansion of Israel’s security buffer zone in southern Lebanon with the aim of repelling Lebanese cross-border attacks.

Israel has pushed further into southern Lebanon in recent weeks. Israeli forces are occupying the land south of the Litani River, an area it called on Lebanese civilians to evacuate. The Israeli military has blown up several bridges over the river – which bisects Lebanon – over the past days as part of a broader assault in the south.

CNN’s Lauren Izso and Sophie Tanno contributed to this report.

A job fair organized by the Nebraska Department of Labor in Lexington, Nebraska, on January 15.

Job growth was lackluster last year in the United States, but signs of stabilization, if not a rebound, were starting to emerge.

Now, the expanding conflict in the Middle East not only interrupts that potential progress, but also threatens to knock the labor market further off course.

Since the war began, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has increased oil prices, hampered the supply chain and pushed up the cost of gasoline. Inflation fears have heightened, as has uncertainty. That’s a dynamic that could strangle the labor market.

The listless, anemic, “low-hire, low-fire” labor market dynamic is expected to persist … for now.

“Uncertainty is delaying, not canceling, hiring plans,” Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, told CNN last week.

Daco currently expects a “jobless” expansion, with employment gains of around 20,000 per month in the first half of the year and unemployment (currently at 4.4%) drifting toward 4.7% by the end of the year.

“With recession odds around 40%, the risk is that a prolonged pause in hiring eventually turns into more visible softening,” he wrote. “For now, it’s still a cooling, not a cracking. But if uncertainty were to re-escalate, those cracks could emerge by late-spring.”

Read more about how the war could impact the US job market here.

In a Palm Sunday ceremony marking the beginning of Holy Week, Pope Leo XIV said God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.”

The pope did not name any world leaders but has been vocal about his criticism of the war in Iran in recent weeks.

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Pope Leo condemns 'those who wage war'

In a Palm Sunday ceremony marking the beginning of Holy Week, Pope Leo XIV said God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.”

01:23 • Source: CNN

Pope Leo condemns 'those who wage war'

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A man walks among the ruins of a commercial-office building affected during military operations in a residential area of Tehran, Iran, on Sunday.

Even as regional leaders scramble to find diplomatic off-ramps to the war, the main players – Israel, the US and Iran – are doubling down on their positions.

President Donald Trump has claimed Iran is almost ready for a deal, even as Tehran warns it will “rain fire” on American troops if they launch a ground invasion.

Here’s what to know on Day 31:

Read our full catch-up here.

US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of the US taking Iran’s oil in an interview with the Financial Times.

Speaking on Sunday, Trump told the newspaper that his “preference would be to take the oil,” as he weighs whether to seize Iran’s key fuel export hub at Kharg Island. He likened the potential move to the US ambitions to control Venezuela’s oil industry following the capture of its leader Nicolás Maduro in January.

Trump added that US forces would likely need to remain there for an extended period.

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”

The island, which handles 90% of Tehran’s oil exports, has long been critical to Iran’s economy.

The US previously targeted military installations on Kharg Island with strikes on March 13, with Central Command saying that 90 targets had been hit, including “naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites.”

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to members of the media aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Sunday.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran has agreed to “most of” the 15-point list of demands that the US conveyed, via Pakistan, to end the war.

Asked whether Iran responded to those points, the president told reporters aboard Air Force One, “They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn’t they?”

“They’re agreeing with us on the plan. We asked for 15 things, and for the most part, we’re going to be asking for a couple of other things,” Trump continued.

Tehran did not immediately accept the 15-point plan last week. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has previously acknowledged that messages have been exchanged through intermediaries but signaled skepticism of Washington’s position.

Trump also said Iran has given the US oil that will be shipped tomorrow to “prove they’re serious.” Trump said when he talked last week about Iran giving the US a “present,” it was “10 massive boatloads of oil.”

Trump also claimed there has been “regime change” in Iran during the course of the war.

“We’ve had regime change, if you look already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed, they’re all dead,” the president told reporters.

“The next regime is mostly dead, and the third regime, we’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before. It’s a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change, and frankly, they’ve been very reasonable,” he continued.

For context: As CNN has previously reported, the 15-point plan is believed to include: Iran committing to no nuclear weapons, handing over its highly enriched uranium, limits on Tehran’s defense capabilities, an end to regional proxy groups and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump previously told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that Iran had committed to not having a nuclear weapon, something Tehran has said publicly in the past.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was elevated to the position his father held after the elder Khamenei’s death in US-Israeli air strikes. Top Iranian officials, including one of its most powerful decision-makers, Ali Larijani, have also been killed in strikes.

Damaged US E-3 Awac plane.

An Iranian strike on an air base in Saudi Arabia appears to have destroyed a US Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft, vital for its airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, that enables airborne monitoring of up to 120,000 square miles of battlespace.

Images of the wrecked aircraft began appearing on social media sites over the weekend. CNN geolocated the images to the Prince Sultan Air Base in central Saudi Arabia by comparing them to a satellite image from March 11, which showed an E-3 Sentry aircraft at the same location as the wreckage seen in the recent photos.

CNN has previously reported that an attack on the air base left at least 10 US service members injured. No fatalities were reported. A US Air Force tanker aircraft was also damaged, sources said.

In the images, the E-3s distinct rotating radar dome can be seen on the ground by the damaged aircraft.

The E-3 Sentry plays a key role in US military battlespace management.

With the ability to track around 600 targets at one time, the AWACS crew can provide commanders and combat units with information on exactly where enemy, friendly and neutral forces are and help direct attacks and defenses.

The 30-foot-diameter radar dome is carried on struts 11 feet above the fuselage, enabling the Sentry to give a view of the battlespace from the ground to the stratosphere at a range of 250 miles, covering about 120,000 square miles, the Air Force says.