'If it were up to me, I'd take the oil': Trump hails bombing of Iran as he brands proposed ceasefire a 'significant step'
Trump has demanded Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face 'living hell'
Donald Trump has said a proposed ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran is a “significant step forward”, but if it “were up to him”, he would simply take the country’s oil.
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Speaking to reporters at the White House’s Easter event, the President said he is only considering peace because it would “make the American people happy.”
It comes amid reports Iran has flatly rejected a proposed ceasefire that would see the Strait of Hormuz opened for a short time.
Speaking about the proposed deal, Trump said: "It's not good enough but it's a very significant step forward."
Read more: UK will not be dragged into Trump's war on Iran, minister insists
“We are obliterating their country. And I hate to do it, but we're obliterating it.
"They just don't want to say ‘uncle.’ They don't want to cry as the expression goes ‘uncle,’ but they will.
"And if they don't, They'll have no bridges. They'll have no power plants. They'll have no anything. I won't go further because there are other things that are worse than those two.
"If it were up to me I'd take the oil, I'd keep the oil, we'd make plenty of money," he added, but said he wants a deal to make the American people “happy.”
In an apparent jab at UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Trump said: "We don't want another Neville Chamberlain, do we agree?"
Chamberlain was a British PM best known for appeasing Hitler in the run-up to the Second World War.
It comes as Iran confirmed that Majid Khademi, head of the intelligence organisation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has been killed by a joint US-Israeli strike.
Israel has claimed responsibility for Khademi’s death, and the Iranian media has attributed it to a “terrorist attack by the American-Zionist (Israeli) enemy”.
Khademi has become the latest key figure from the Iranian leadership to be confirmed killed by such strikes since they began on 28 February.
Khademi spent decades in intelligence and counter-espionage roles before his predecessor, Mohammad Kazemi, was killed in 2025 in Israeli air strikes.
Iran's leadership has accused Donald Trump of "madness" after being presented with a temporary ceasefire plan.
Trump threatened that "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!" if they did not reopen the Strait by 20:00 ET on Tuesday.
Iran responded by warning of a "much more devastating" retaliation.
"An attack with bunker-buster bombs on Sharif University is a symbol of Trump's madness and ignorance," Iran's vice presidentMohammad Reza Aref said, quoted by the Iranian state Fars news agency.
"He does not understand that Iran's knowledge is not in concrete to be destroyed by bombs; the real bunker is the will of our professors and elites.
"No brutality in history has been able to take knowledge from Iranians.
"Knowledge has roots in our soul, and this bunker is not collapsible."
A framework to end hostilities had been put together by Pakistan and exchanged with Iran and the US overnight, sources claimed.
Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has reportedly been in contact "all night long" with US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
The plan outlined a two-tier approach with an immediate ceasefire, followed by a comprehensive agreement."All elements need to be agreed today," the source told Reuters.
Iran promptly rejected the propsoal.
On Monday, Israel hit a major petrochemical facility in Iran, depsite Trump suggesting there is a pause on attacks on civilian infrastructure.
"The IDF has now strongly attacked the largest petrochemical facility in Iran located in [Asaluyeh]," Israel Katz, the country's defence minister said.
"Now the two facilities, which together are responsible for about 85% of Iran's petrochemical exports - have been taken out of service and are not functioning," the statement from Katz added.
"This is a severe economic blow worth tens of billions of dollars to the Iranian regime. The petrochemical industry is a major engine in financing the activities of the Revolutionary Guards and in building Iran's military power."