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This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Charlotte Gallagher and at 1600 hours GMT on the 30th of March, these are our main stories.

President Trump repeats his threat to hit Iran's

energy infrastructure, but also says he's negotiating with the Iranian leadership to end the war.

And Cuba is set to receive 700,000 barrels of oil from Russia after months of a U.S. blockade.

Also in this podcast, the ancient shield that's going back home for the first time in two centuries.

You can really clearly see where a prehistoric sword or spear has pierced this shield at some point.

So they were definitely used in combat.

President. at some point. Though they were definitely used in combat. President Trump's latest remarks on the war with Iran have been raising eyebrows with his mixed

messaging.

He's repeated that a deal to end the war could be reached very soon, just as thousands of US troops arrive in the

region preparing for possible ground operations to take over Kag Island, Iran's main oil

exporting hub. That would not be without risks, as we heard from Brad Taylor, a former US

Special Forces lieutenant colonel who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The question in my mind

would be applying a military application of force for a strategic in-state. What is that? If it's just to

stop the Iranians from exporting oil to fund the regime, you don't need troops to do that. You could

blow up the piers. You could do anything you wanted from the air and prevent them from exporting oil. So in my mind, if we were going to do that, it's more of a psychological effect of, here we come, here comes, you know, the troops, but I'm not sure it's worth the risk of actually doing it. It's very close to the shores of Iran, and, you know, we're dealing with the drones and the missiles and that kind of stuff, which are going a long distance. But that puts them in a direct line of an artillery fan. And the other risk is when they hit the island, they'll probably have 48 hours of supplies to get going. But eventually you're going to have to get them resupplied to sustain the operation. And that's going to have to come through air. And that involves another component of risk. You're going to be flying helicopters in and out of there to get the resupply

going. It's just a very logistically challenged piece. I've been speaking to our diplomatic

correspondent James Landale. I asked him first, what's the strategy behind President Trump now

focusing on Karg Island.

This is a huge source of revenue for Iran's economy. Iran's economy is already in bits.

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