US President Donald Trump has said the US military carried out a major attack on Iran's Kharg Island and warned that the country’s oil infrastructure could be targeted if shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted.
"The United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran's crown jewel, Kharg Island," Trump said early on Saturday on social media.
"I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider."
Iran says US strike on Kharg Island caused no damage
Iran, meanwhile, said early on Saturday that the US strike caused no damage to oil facilities, but warned that any attack on infrastructure would lead to retaliatory strikes on oil facilities in the region, according to state‑run Press TV.
The report cited a spokesperson from Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central headquarters, who said any attack on Iran’s oil, economic or energy assets would lead to the destruction of “all corresponding US facilities in the region.”
According to the report, US air strikes targeted air defences, a naval base and airport facilities, resulting in more than 15 explosions and thick smoke, but did not damage the island’s oil infrastructure.
Cornerstone island
The United States and Israel have treaded carefully around the island, but Trump administration officials have been reported as saying that capturing Kharg was on the table as the US-Israeli war in the Middle East persists.
The island, located around 30 kilometres off the Iranian mainland, handles roughly 90 percent of Iran's crude exports, according to a recent JP Morgan note.
The territory is about one-third the size of Manhattan, and experts said any move against it would have swift repercussions.
Iranian strikes have all but halted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass, and have also impacted oil infrastructure in other Gulf states.
Trump said the US Navy would start escorting tankers through the straits "very soon" to restore oil exports as he struggles to tackle soaring US gas prices.
Kharg underwent key developments during Iran's oil expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, when much of the country's coast was too shallow for supertankers.
