Trump Says Iran’s Kharg Island Is Being Blown to Smithereens After US Strikes

Donald Trump said early Monday that Iran’s key energy hub on Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens,” as renewed US-Iran hostilities rattled markets and sent oil prices higher.

In a brief Truth Social post, paired with an AI-generated video that appeared to depict Kharg Island consumed by flames, Trump wrote: “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT.”

No independent evidence immediately emerged to support the claim that the Iranian energy hub was under attack, and Iranian media did not issue an immediate response to Trump’s post.

The claim came after US forces carried out their first strikes on Iran in more than a month on Sunday, targeting two rocket launchers near the Strait of Hormuz, while Tehran responded with an attack on American forces in Jordan.

The latest escalation followed reports that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces had been preparing to launch rockets fitted with sea mines into the strait, Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins confirmed to the Daily Mail.

‘US forces are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce through this essential waterway,’ Captain Hawkins said.

The US military last week completed clearing sea mines from the strait, he added. Iranian news outlets reported sounds of explosions near Larak Island on the strait.

The IRGC in a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster noted ‘the martyrdom and injury of several of our fighters and compatriots’.

The statement said the attack will ‘result in punishment of the aggressor’.

Meanwhile, the renewed strikes in Iran caused oil prices to surge in early Asian trade on Monday. 

Brent futures climbed 2.7 per cent to $90.51 a barrel after US forces struck two of Iran’s launchers on Larak Island in the strait on Sunday.

Shortly following the US strikes, Fox News reported that Iranian forces were attacking American troops stationed in Jordan.

Almost all of the incoming missiles have been intercepted and there have been no significant impacts, Fox said.

The return to hostilities followed weeks in which the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to punish Tehran and its business partners with costly economic sanctions, shifting away from military options.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday new secondary sanctions were likely to be unveiled weekly to pressure Iran, with an initial focus on banks.

‘We’re starting with the banks, and we’re telling the banks it’s not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime,’ Mr Bessent said in an interview.

After imposing penalties on the United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr on Friday over alleged financial links to Iran, Mr Bessent said the next step may be cutting off an institution entirely from the dollar-based financial system.

‘You’re ​going to see a lot more of these every week,’ he added ahead of a meeting of G20 finance leaders.

As the conflict grinds on, Mr Trump’s talk of finding a quick end to the war also appears to be fading.

He stressed last week that he’s ‘not in a hurry’ to get Iran back to the negotiating table, and he continues making the case that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is on the ropes.

Mr Trump has consistently emphasised that the US and Israel campaign has been devastating for Iran’s navy and air force. Iranian officials have said the country has suffered $270billion in direct and indirect damage.

Israeli military strikes in the first weeks of the war wiped out much of the theocratic government’s leadership structure.

But Iran has found leverage through its own strikes in the critical Strait of Hormuz where relatively few vessels carrying oil and liquefied natural gas are risking passage.

Iran still has enough drones and missiles to fire at vessels transiting the vital energy waterway, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil normally flows, effectively controlling much of the traffic in the strait.

Mr Trump has repeatedly declared that the ‘Strait of Hormuz is open’, saying 24 vessels passed through last week. 

But that’s a fraction of the roughly 130 vessels that passed through the vital waterway daily before the war began.

Earlier on Sunday, a multinational coalition overseen by the US Navy said commercial traffic through the strait remained at ‘reduced levels’.

And a monitoring agency run by the British military said an unknown projectile struck a tanker ship on Saturday north of Khasab, Oman, in the strait.

Last week, Mr Trump said all mines had been detonated or removed from the international waters of the strait and Iran had been warned that any vessel placing new mines would be destroyed.

While Mr Trump has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz is open, Iran’s ⁠Revolutionary Guards’ navy had called those statements ‘an obvious lie’, reiterating that it remained closed to ships without Iranian permission.

The waterway carried nearly a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before it was blockaded in the six-month-old Iran war.

Iran is the third largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted US military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began on February 28.

Attacking Kharg, which handled 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports before the war launched by US and Israeli attacks on February 28, would severely disrupt its energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy. 

The last time the US military confirmed it was targeting Iran was on July 29, when it announced a ‘heavy wave of strikes’ on dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets including coastal surveillance and defense sites.

On August 1, Mr Trump said he would order the military to hold off on new strikes at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.