During a portion of an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” President Donald Trump said that “it’s unlikely” that the United States will hit the oil on Kharg Island and “As far as taking it is concerned, if we degrade them far enough and deep enough back, I would do that.”

Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst asked, “Do you still intend to take Kharg Island?”

Trump responded, “I can’t say that to you, because if I did, it would be foolish, right? But it would be nice, it would make little headlines, but it would be foolish. But I’ll tell you about Kharg Island. So, we’ve already –.”

Yingst then cut in to ask, “Are you ruling out a ground campaign in a limited capacity?”

Trump answered, “I don’t want to say that either, but I would say no, if I thought it was appropriate. Sometimes you need a ground campaign. But we have other people that will do the ground campaign for us. But we already hit Kharg Island, as you know, twice, even three times. I said hit everything but the oil, just leave that little area from 25 yards out, leave that little area, don’t touch the oil, because I don’t want that, in terms of the world economy. It’s a chunk of the world economy. So, we haven’t hit that. At some point we could, but I think it’s unlikely. As far as taking it is concerned, if we degrade them far enough and deep enough back, I would do that.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett