PressTV Interview with Peter Koenig
By Peter Koenig
Global Research
April 2, 2026
Just a few hours ago, President Trump has announced he will shortly speak to the Nation about progress in Iran.
What will he talk about ? Could it be about a possible US invasion of Kharg Island, where most of Iran's - and one of the world's largest sources of - hydrocarbon reserves are located, an option that is still on the table?
Could it be another deadline ? For what, though?
The preamble to this is that President Trump with his war on Iran has a popularity rating of about 30% in the US.
Trump sees himself between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. Because there are also mid-term elections this fall, and he believes - and so do some of his few supporters - if he can show a "win," like a successful invasion of Kharg island, he may gain back public support.
That is of course nonsense. It would require a US land invasion. For now, the official figure for such an invasion is still between 8,000 and 10,000 troops. Maybe more. The infamous "boots in the ground." Iran has built a military highly weaponized protecting shield of the island, so that there might be hundreds if not thousands of US casualties, with such an invasion. That would certainly not contribute to raise Trump's popularity.
Trump and his military brass know it, that is why they are generally against it.
That may also have been the reason for President Trump to extend the "deadline." A deadline for what ? To 6 April, as he says negotiations with Iran currently ongoing may yield positive results.
Iran has repeatedly said there are no negotiations - no talks ongoing between Teheran and Washington.
Besides, talks about what ? Iran's presumed plans for nuclear enrichment ? Or about opening the Hormuz Strait to the US and other enemy vessels ? Does anyone know for sure what the "deadline" is all about?
Iran's Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, has said yesterday that as of now Iran "doesn't need any negotiations," but remains a "rational player" that is "not looking for war." Mr. Jalali has dismissed Trump's claims that Tehran is negotiating with Washington, calling them "completely false." He added with a twinkle,
"Trump is almost sitting in front of a mirror negotiating with himself." (RT, 30 March 2026; photo from RT)
Yes, that is what it looks like, unless there are dimensions of this war that the public at large is not supposed to know.
For example, among the not talked about possibilities, the real reason of the war may be more of a financial and economic nature. At the same time, the war serves Israel to weaken Iran, so Israel hopes. And the war industry to make more profit. Of course, always, and always at the cost of thousands and thousands of human lives and the destruction of infrastructure and cultural relics.
What would these financial reasons be ? Perhaps to get Iran to agree to trade her hydrocarbons in the future again in US dollars, rather than in local currencies or Chinese Yuan, and / or getting Iran to accepting to put her central bank under the surveillance of the Rothschild-controlled and -managed Bank for International Settlement - the infamous BIS in Basle, Switzerland which controls about 95% of all tradable currencies in the world, of which the US dollar ranks number one with just over 60%.
Iran is one of the few important countries whose central bank is still independent, not a member of the BIS, therefore Iran has a sovereign monetary policy not dictated by the BIS.
The US dollar has lost a lot of value and influence in the last 20 years, as countries even within OPEC have started abandoning the unwritten law to trade hydrocarbon only in US dollars. The Saudis, head of OPEC, are a prime example, selling their crude to China in Chinese Yuan. So did Venezuela until Trump had President Maduro kidnapped and put Maduro's VP in charge. And she now toes the line prescribed by Washington. Venezuela may have become the first country under the new Monroe Doctrine, otherwise called "Donroe Doctrine."
There are no coincidences: first Venezuela, then Iran. Back to US dollars, meaning a lot more dollars will be circulating and be in demand for purchasing crucial energy, leading to a clearly stronger dollar.
The US dollar had lost enormous value as a reserve and international trading currency. When in the 90s the dollar or dollar-denominated assets accounted for more than 90% of countries treasury reserves around the globe, today that number is down to just over 60%, on both accounts, trading as well as reserves. They usually go hand-in-hand. For practical purposes a country's reserves adjust to the trading currencies they mostly use.
This degradation of the US dollar does not please Washington at all. For countries that no longer deal and trade with the US dollar, the threat of US sanctioning for misbehaving is drastically weakened.
That loosening financial stranglehold over the world is not welcome to Washington.
In addition to Washington, who could also be interested in recovering the dollar as the world's dominant currency ? Could it be the City of London ? The very City of London that also created the Federal Reserve, by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 - the completely privately-owned US Central Bank ? The Fed Act was to become the launch pad for a worldwide, western-dominated gigantic dollar-based Ponzi scheme, what it is today.
And, the same City of London created the US dollar as THE world currency on which the west's financial system depends so it can be controlled and manipulated by the square mile of inner London, the so-called City of London.
Now, this part of economics is a not such popular view. What most people interpret with economic impact of an oil and gas crisis is that sovereign countries' economies will suffer, as their production and building apparatus depends on energy. Of all the energy used in the world, still about 85% stems from hydrocarbons, despite the climate freaks who would like you to believe that soon "green" energy, like solar, wind and what not, will take over the world's economies.
Nothing is further from the truth.
So, if about 20% to 25% of all oil and gas is being shipped through the Strait of Hormuz - and the Strait of Hormuz is being closed, that will certainly have a major impact on the world's economies. And that concerns also supply chains such as for food and other life necessities.
It would be wrong to assume - maybe Trump does - this will affect only the countries that depend on oil and gas from the Gulf. That would be extremely shortsighted. Russia and China who are either energy self-sufficient or in the case of China, have already prepared for alternative supply sources, the impact may be less harsh.
But for a country like the US, it will be a blow because the US imports most of its consumables. Since in the 80s and 90s, they have outsourced most of their production capacity into low-cost labor countries. Trump and his advisers may not yet realize. Or maybe they do. But Netanyahu, also an instrument of the City of London, has pressured President Trump- could it be an Epstein-pressure, that might also be called "blackmail" ? - into going to war with him against Iran. That is why it looks like Trump is between a rock and hard place. He would like to get out, which most of his serious Pentagon and political advisers tell him to do, but he doesn't know how because there are the Epstein files.
Therefore, a protracted ever-lasting war, like most others the US is engaged in, could be the result of this quagmire that is again killing millions of young people - but of course, this is of no concern to those who run the show.
The original source of this article is Global Research.
Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst, regular author for Global Research, and a former Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion - An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney's book "When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis" (Clarity Press - November 1, 2020). Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.