US says it could use its military to seize Greenland
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US President Donald Trump has been discussing "a range of options" to acquire Greenland, including use of the military, the White House said. The White House has told the BBC that acquiring Greenland - a semi-autonomous region of fellow NAT member Denmark – was a "national security priority". We hear from a former senior commander of NATO and a politician from Greenland's parliament.
Also in the programme: US officials say that a mission to board a Russian flagged oil tanker sailing in the North Atlantic is underway; and the discovery of the trumpet from the Iron Age on the east coast of England.
(File photo: People gather for a protest outside the Embassy of the United States of America in Copenhagen, Denmark on March 29, 2025. Credit: EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:10.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service coming to live from London. |
| 0:14.7 | I'm Sean Lay. In the course of the next hour, we're going to bring you an update on that |
| 0:18.1 | developing story going on right now in the North Atlantic |
| 0:20.9 | in which the Americans have bought it a tanker linked to Venezuelan oil and seized it, they say, |
| 0:27.4 | in pursuant of a court order. The ship had been reflagged in recent weeks to become a Russian |
| 0:32.5 | registered ship and the Russians have sent a submarine to the area. So we will bring you the latest on what we know in the course of the next few minutes. |
| 0:40.6 | Also in the next hour, anti-government protests in Iran spread to the majority of its provinces. |
| 0:46.5 | We are from an academic in Tehran what he hopes for, as the President says, there should be talks. |
| 0:52.0 | I would like to see free and fair election. I would like to see free and fair election. |
| 0:55.9 | I would like to see the release of all political prisoners. |
| 1:01.0 | I would like to see the shutdown of being prison forever. |
| 1:05.3 | I would like to see more press freedom. |
| 1:07.8 | I would like to see that I'm not frightened of talking to BBC |
| 1:12.6 | World Service. These are my wishes and my desires. But first, the White House says it's |
| 1:18.9 | discussing options for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the US military, an autonomous |
| 1:24.5 | territory controlled by Denmark. For many in Europe, the Trump administration's |
| 1:28.4 | increasingly belligerent assertions are puzzling. President Trump suggests Denmark has neglected Greenland's |
| 1:34.0 | defence. Yet the US has operated a base for 75 years. It once had 10,000 soldiers there, now has just |
| 1:40.5 | 200. Local authorities say they wouldn't object to a bigger presence. As to the |
| 1:44.7 | President's claim that Denmark has added just one more dog sled. In October, the government |
| 1:49.5 | in Copenhagen said it would spend $4.2 billion on two military units, two ships, maritime |
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