Well oil is frequently trotted out as a reason to do this, so we certainly can't take oil out of the discussion, whether it feels like it's an obvious bad reason or not.

It's been all throughout the news throughout March and April, here's some examples (please excuse the LLM summary, but summarizing lots of repetitive news links is actually one thing that LLMs do not hallucinate on often):

> March 29-30, 2026: Trump told the Financial Times that his "preference would be to take the oil" and discussed seizing Kharg Island, which handles over 90% of Iran's oil exports.

> April 3, 2026: In a social media post, he claimed that with more time, the U.S. could "OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE".

> April 6, 2026: At the White House Easter Egg Roll, Trump told reporters, "If I had my choice, I'd keep the oil," but noted that he hadn't fully done so because he wanted to "make the people of our country happy" who wanted the war to end

March 29 - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-pre...

April 3 - Trump posting on social media https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-makes-cryptic-social-media-2...

April 6 - https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/06/trump-says-he-would...

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an0malous 2 hours ago | parent [-]

They’ve also said it was to stop their nuclear weapons program, the same program they said they destroyed at the beginning of the year.

They additionally said it was to free the Iranian people from the oppressive regime, and later said we would end their civilization if they don’t agree to a cease fire.

I’m sure obtaining their oil is a goal, but it’s not their primary goal.

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epistasis 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Well even "a" goal is a big change from "obviously not".

Historians will debate the true reasons for this invasion, but in the end I think they'll conclude it's just the random actions of a very incompetint and not very intelligent person that acts with pure id.

	▲	an0malous 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		If I go to the supermarket for groceries and fill up the gas in my car to get there, my goal wasn’t to get gas, it was to get groceries. The historians are already saying this war is for Israel, that’s what John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs are saying. I’m sure the companies that produce the textbooks will find a way to say how it’s all rather more complicated than that though.