U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday another attack on Iran and said the United States would eventually seize Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub, after two consecutive nights of exchanges of fire in the Persian Gulf.
“The United States will be hitting Iran ... VERY HARD TONIGHT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, claiming that Iran’s navy, air force, radar systems, air defenses and most of its offensive capabilities were “GONE.”
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Kharg Island, US President Donald Trump
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“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets,” Trump wrote, comparing the move to U.S. actions in Venezuela.
Shortly after Trump’s post, explosions were heard near Sirik in southern Iran, though their source was not immediately clear.
Overnight, the U.S. military struck a series of targets across Iran after explicit threats from Trump. The wave of strikes lasted about four hours, after which U.S. Central Command said it had targeted military surveillance capabilities, communications systems and air defense sites across the country.
CENTCOM said U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy forces fired precision munitions at Iranian targets that posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial vessels in the region. The command said the strikes were carried out in response to “Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression.”
The previous night, the U.S. military also struck targets in Iran on Trump’s orders after an Iranian drone downed a U.S. Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM described that operation as a proportional response to an “unjustified” Iranian attack.
Tehran responded that night by striking U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf and Jordan.