On the day after he was sworn in as the 45th president in American history, Donald Trump stepped in foreign policy controversy, saying the US should have kept Iraqi oil after its drawdown from the Iraq war, and suggesting “maybe we’ll have another chance” at accessing that natural resource.

He also said Iraqi oil was responsible for the rise of ISIS.

“If we kept the oil, you probably wouldn’t have ISIS because that’s where they made their money in the first place, so we should have kept the oil, but, OK, maybe we’ll have another chance,” he said.


Speaking at the CIA headquarters, he added, “I always used to say keep the oil. I wasn’t a fan of Iraq. I don’t want to go into Iraq. I will tell you, when we’re in, we got out wrong.”

It’s not the first time Trump has talked about taking Iraq’s oil. Last September, he said, “One of the benefits we would have had if we took the oil is ISIS would not have been able to take oil and use that oil to fuel themselves.”