I just finished writing up an interview with former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton and he talked about how Trump “doesn’t do strategic thinking” and his latest comments to the New York Times underscore that.

“The president offered a variety of often inconsistent visions of how a
new government could take shape after the targeted killing of Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei,” the report says.

In one, he said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could turn over their weapons to the people. I another, he suggested a leadership change.

“What we did in Venezuela, I think, is the perfect, the perfect scenario,” he said.

The report challenges that:

he has been told by his advisers that the vast differences in cultures
and history made it virtually impossible to apply the strategy used in
Venezuela .

Trump said he had three choices for who to lead Iran but didn’t reveal them.

Critically for the oil market is this:

Mr. Trump said that he was open to lifting sanctions on Iran if the new leadership shows itself to be a pragmatic partner.

WTI has come under some pressure after the huge opening pop. It was last up 5.8%.