Donald Trump chillingly claims US could keep Iranian oil 'like Venezuela' after Middle East war

Donald Trump chillingly claims US could keep Iranian oil 'like Venezuela' after Middle East war Donald Trump has suggested the war with Iran could be over by the end of the year, but then the President claimed the US could 'keep' Iranian oil "like Venezuela" Donald Trump has threatened that the US could continue the war with Iran and keep its oil "like Venezuela". The US President spent his weekend in Ireland for golf but did not pass on talking about politics and his role in the Middle East war. Trump, on his visit across the pond for the Irish Open golf championship and meetings, compared what the US did this year in Venezuela to what his administration's next steps in Iran could be. In January, the US deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the US. Since then, Trump has struck a deal to give the US a major role in the state-owned Venezuelan oil industry. US oil giant Chevron, which is the only US oil company with a large presence in Venezuela, last week was given more land to increase production. This comes after Trump reached a deal with the South American nation which involves the development of 17 fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels. Trump, on Sunday, reiterated that he believes his war with Iran will end, possibly after the November midterm elections, this year but also sets his sights on their oil. He said: "We'll ultimately get out [of the war], unless we decide to stay and keep the oil like Venezuela." The US President claimed that revenues made by the US from the Venezuelan industry has "paid for the war many times". Trump also said that petrol prices at the pumps in the US would "drop like a rock" once the Iran conflict ends. The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil is hovering around $100 amid recent escalations in the conflict. The barrel price was $72.48 on the day Israel and US launched the war with Iran, on February 28. Despite suggesting the conflict could end this year, Trump added that he would only make the "right deal" while also claiming Tehran was "calling constantly" for peace talks. The price of oil has remained high since that start of the conflict after Tehran effectively shut off the Strait of Hormuz - a waterway between Iran and Oman that typically sees a fifth of the world's oil supply pass through. Iran had hit tankers and threatened any vessels that attempted to pass through, bringing the busy waterway to a standstill. In June, dozens of vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz but today the waterway still faces extreme shipping constraints. One person was killed and four wounded when an Iranian cargo vessel was struck off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, state media said on Sunday. This came a day before a plan by Tehran to brief regional countries on its contested efforts to manage shipping traffic in the area was postponed.