United States President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Iran’s oil infrastructure after the US military bombed targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports.
This followed his pledge earlier to hit Iran “very hard” on Friday, and claims by US defence secretary Pete Hegseth that Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has been wounded and was likely “disfigured”.
“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 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.”
The US and Israel have treaded carefully around the island, but Trump administration officials have been reported saying that capturing Kharg was on the table.
The island, located around 30 kilometers off the Iranian coast, handles roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports. According to JP Morgan, a direct strike at the island would halt the bulk of Iran’s crude exports and would likely trigger severe retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz or against regional energy infrastructure.
Two weeks since the war started, maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass — had all but halted.
Trump said the US Navy would start escorting tankers through the straits “very soon” to restore oil exports as he struggled to tackle soaring US gas prices.
‘Deranged scumbags’
Earlier on Friday, he also said it was an “honour” to kill Iranian leaders who he had called “deranged scumbags”.
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honour it is to do so!” Trump said on social media.
Iran’s longtime supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other top figures in Tehran have been killed since the war was launched by the United States and Israel on 28 February.
Trump struck out at media coverage questioning the success of the war, saying “you would incorrectly think that we are not winning.”
Iran’s military is “being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth,” he said.
“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time. Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” Trump had said on social media.
‘No quarter’
On Friday, Hegseth had also questioned Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei ability to govern Iran given his injuries.
No photos have been released of Khamenei since an Israeli strike at the start of the war that killed much of his family, including his father Ali Khamenei, and wife.
His first comments came in a statement read out by a television presenter on Thursday. In the statement, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and called on neighbouring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.
“We know the new so-called not so supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured. He put out a statement yesterday. A weak one, actually, but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement,” Hegseth said on Friday.
“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father – dead. He’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy.”
An Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday the newly appointed supreme leader was lightly injured but was continuing to operate, after state television described him as war-wounded.
During the briefing, Hegseth said the US would show no mercy in the war.
“We will keep pressing, keep pushing, keep advancing. No quarter, no mercy for our enemy,” he said.
“No quarter” is the refusal to spare the life of someone who has expressed their intention to surrender, something prohibited by law.
“International humanitarian law prohibits the use of this procedure, that is, ordering that there shall be no survivors, threatening the adversary therewith, or conducting hostilities on this basis,” according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Meanwhile, the US is offering a reward of up to US$10 million ($14.3 million) for information about senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including its new leader Khamenei.
Other areas hit
Aside from Iran’s Kharg Island, an Israeli strike on a primary healthcare centre in southern Lebanon has killed at least 12 medical personnel on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said.
It said the attack was “the second against the health sector in a few hours”, following a strike on Sawaneh that killed two paramedics affiliated with Hezbollah and its ally Amal.
Qatar’s interior ministry said it was evacuating a number of “key areas” as Iran presses its retaliatory air campaign against Gulf countries.
In Doha’s central Musheireb district some residents received phone alerts telling them to “evacuate the area immediately…to the nearest safest place as a temporary precaution”.
Iran also launched a fresh round of missiles towards Israel, just after midnight on Saturday in Tehran. Israeli rescue workers said there were no reported casualties following the strikes.
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