{"id":3951,"date":"2026-08-06T11:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=3951"},"modified":"2026-08-06T11:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T11:00:02","slug":"venezuelan-oil-is-victors-spoils-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=3951","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan oil is \u2018victor\u2019s spoils\u2019 \u2013 Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are doing the same\u201d in Iran, the US president has said, appearing to link military operations to control of oil resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump has hailed Venezuelan oil as the \u201cspoils\u201d<\/em> of war, in stark contrast to his earlier portrayal of the January operation in Caracas as being intended to bring \u201cpeace, liberty, and justice\u201d<\/em> to the Venezuelan people.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Trump claimed that \u201cbillions and billions of barrels of oil\u201d<\/em> are coming out of Venezuela, describing it as \u201cone of the most fertile places for oil in the world.\u201d<\/em> Venezuela holds the world\u2019s largest proven oil reserves, surpassing Saudi Arabia and Iran, despite years of sanctions and underinvestment.<\/p>\n

Referring to the January operation in which the US kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump said Washington had recovered its costs \u201cmany, many, many times\u201d<\/em> through the oil it had taken.
<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the old-fashioned way. To the victor belong the spoils,\u201d<\/em> Trump said. He then extended the comparison to Iran, saying: \u201cAnd we are doing the same in the lovely Islamic Republic of Iran, we\u2019ll knock the hell out of them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"A
US used \u2018virtually all\u2019 its tactical ballistic missiles during war on Iran \u2013 Reuters<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

US forces abducted and imprisoned Venezuelan President Maduro in January on narcoterrorism allegations. Washington subsequently took control of Venezuela\u2019s oil sales, with proceeds directed into US-supervised accounts.<\/p>\n

Unlike the 48-minute Venezuela operation, however, the Iran war has entered its sixth month with no military victory or negotiated settlement in sight, as Tehran continues to reject US demands for \u201cunconditional surrender\u201d<\/em> and vows to keep fighting.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s remarks echo longstanding arguments made by Russian officials that US military interventions have been driven by control over energy resources.
<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe aggression against Iran\u2026Venezuela, and before that Iraq and Libya have always been linked to oil and gas supplies,\u201d<\/em> Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Colombia\u2019s Caracol Radio in March.<\/p>\n

Even though the stated US objective in Iran is to degrade its military capabilities and ensure Tehran never acquires a nuclear weapon, Trump has previously indirectly linked the campaign to oil. In June, he said US forces had been secretly escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and moving what he described as \u201cmillions\u201d<\/em> of barrels of oil through the waterway.<\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>\u0421argo ship struck in Hormuz after Trump\u2019s \u2018decapitation\u2019 threat
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

As November\u2019s US midterm elections near, the Iran conflict is proving deeply unpopular at home. A Reuters\/Ipsos poll conducted in late July found that only 33% of Americans support the war, while a majority said Trump has failed to explain its objectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are doing the same\u201d in Iran, the US president has said, appearing to link…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}