United States President Donald Trump has said the country\u2019s military bombed military installations on Iran\u2019s Kharg island, warning the area\u2019s critical oil facilities could be next if Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Iran, in turn, threatened on Saturday to reduce US-linked oil facilities to \u201ca pile of ashes\u201d if oil structures on the island were attacked, as the US-Israel war on Iran, now in its punishing third week, spilled over into a global oil price crisis already in the making.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u2060 US Central Command spoke later in the day of \u2060what it described as a large-scale precision \u2060strike. \u201cU.S. \u2060Forces successfully struck \u2060more than \u206090 \u2060Iranian military targets,\u201d CENTCOM said.<\/p>\n State media outlet IRNA, citing a senior provincial official, said exports from the island were continuing normally despite the US attack.<\/p>\n Kharg island is where more than 90 percent of Iran\u2019s oil is exported. Crude oil prices have surged more than 40 percent since the war began.<\/p>\n Trump said on Friday that US forces had \u201ctotally obliterated\u201d all military targets on Iran\u2019s Kharg island oil export hub, describing it in a social media post as \u201cone of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East\u201d. He provided no evidence of that.<\/p>\n The US president said he had chosen not to \u201cwipe out\u201d oil infrastructure on the Iranian island, for now.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, 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 this decision,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s semi-official Fars news agency reported, quoting sources, that more than 15 explosions were heard on Kharg island during the US attacks.<\/p>\n The sources said the attacks targeted air defences, a naval base, and airport facilities, but caused no damage to oil infrastructure. Iran\u2019s Fars news agency reported thick smoke was seen rising from the island.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Tehran, said Iran\u2019s potential retaliatory attacks on Gulf oil facilities would be a \u201ccatastrophic scenario\u201d for the region, and for the \u201centire industry of oil and gas\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Iranians are keeping this, apparently, as a card to use,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been talking about restraint and the possibility of that restraint ending if the Iranian oil facilities are attacked, as the Americans are hinting and threatening.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 2,500 more Marines and an amphibious assault ship are being sent to the Middle East, a US official told the AP news agency.<\/p>\n Elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli have been ordered to the region, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.<\/p>\n Marine Expeditionary Units are able to conduct amphibious landings, but they also specialise in bolstering security at embassies, evacuating civilians, and providing disaster relief.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re to make of this is that the US is very slowly increasing its military posture in terms of prosecuting the war, and that it is not intending to wrap things up any time soon,\u201d Al Jazeera\u2019s Rosiland Jordan reported from Washington.<\/p>\n The deployment does not necessarily indicate that a ground operation is imminent or will take place.<\/p>\n Following the attack on Kharg island, Iran would be \u201cwise to lay down their arms, and save what\u2019s left of their country\u201d, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Fake News Media hates to report how well the United States Military has done against Iran, which is totally defeated and wants a deal \u2013 but not a deal that I would accept!\u201d he posted separately, providing no evidence Tehran was seeking any sort of deal.<\/p>\n At least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured by US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28, Iran\u2019s Ministry of Health says.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said US-Israeli air attacks hit targets across the country, including in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and Tabriz. He said this was a sign that \u201cwe are not close to de-escalation.<\/p>\n \u201cIranian officials are talking about retaliatory strikes, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps talking about using what they call their most advanced weaponry, including Heidar missiles, to target Israeli territories and US bases in the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Zeidon Alkinani, Middle East politics lecturer at Georgetown University in Qatar, has said Trump\u2019s warning that he reserves the right to potentially destroy oil facilities on Kharg island if tensions over the Strait of Hormuz escalate is a worrying sign.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile some regional actors had hoped for de-escalation, the rhetoric from political leaders, including Trump, has shifted from potential compromise to continued hardline positions,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth sides remain stubborn, and the global economic implications may be even more severe than the situation on the ground suggests, with energy supplies and fuel prices across the West and the world heavily affected by attacks on critical infrastructure<\/p>\n<\/div>\n United States President Donald Trump has said the country\u2019s military bombed military installations on Iran\u2019s Kharg island, warning the area\u2019s critical oil facilities could be next if Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz. Iran, in turn, threatened on Saturday to reduce US-linked oil facilities to \u201ca pile of ashes\u201d if oil structures on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
US ground operation in the works?<\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/INTERACTIVE-Strait-of-Hormuz-March-2-2026-1772714221.png?w=770&resize=770%2C962&quality=80\")
Trump dismisses prospect of deal<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"