Trump threatens fresh strikes on Iran, eyes Kharg oil hub

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -  The United States will strike Iran again “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, adding that the seizure of southern Iran’s Kharg Island - the country’s primary oil export terminal - and its oil resources is also on the horizon, “in the not too distant future.” 

“The United States will be hitting Iran… VERY HARD TONIGHT,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, adding that “at some point in the not-too-distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure sites, and assume total control of their oil and gas markets.” 

Kharg lies off Iran’s southern Bushehr province in the northwestern Persian Gulf. The island is considered a strategic energy hub, as Iranian oil transported via pipelines from across the country is loaded onto outbound tankers at its terminals.

During the six-week war, which began in late February with a large-scale aerial campaign that saw the US and Israel strike thousands of targets across Iran, military sites on Kharg Island were hit. However, direct strikes on the island’s vital energy infrastructure were avoided.

Trump’s statement notably came just hours after Washington and Tehran exchanged fresh military strikes for the third consecutive day on Thursday. 

Earlier in the day, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had "completed additional self-defense strikes against multiple targets in Iran” on Trump’s orders, adding that the operation targeted "Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across Iran."

The Command further detailed that the Iranian sites that were hit had “posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters,” and that “the strikes are in response to Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression.”

For its part, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday that “twelve ballistic missiles were launched this morning targeting the deployment sites” of American fighter jets, as well as “vital facilities” of the US army located at the al-Azraq Air Base and Control Center in Jordan, “destroying those facilities and a large number of fighter jets.”

Thursday’s military exchange followed two days of escalating tensions that began on Tuesday and were seemingly triggered by what the US said was Iran’s downing of a US Army Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.

The escalation also comes as Washington and Tehran have yet to reach a comprehensive resolution to the Iran war, despite both sides agreeing to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8 that halted fighting to allow space for talks.
While the first round of talks concluded without a final agreement on April 11, a second round has yet to take place.

Amid the stalemate, the US President on Wednesday accused Iran of dragging its feet, saying, “We’re really close to the deal, but they keep tapping us along.”

However, later in the day, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth anticipated that the fresh strikes on Iran would “advance our military interest and our diplomatic position.”

“We will hit them hard on our terms on the targets that improve the environments for us to operate in, and undermine the capabilities that Iran wants to have,” Hegseth underlined.

Last updated 4:55 PM.