Iran threatens to strike oil facilities after U.S. hits military targets on Kharg Island, a critical oil hub
US forces carried out “large-scale” strikes on Kharg Island, a key hub of Iran’s oil operations in the Gulf, with the country responding by threatening to strike US allies’ oil installations if any of its infrastructure was damaged.
U.S. Central Command said Saturday that naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers were among the targets destroyed in the “precision strike” on the island, hitting “90 Iranian military targets” while “preserving oil infrastructure.”
Kharg Island, a tiny but strategic island 15 miles off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf, is home to an oil terminal that ships 90 percent of the country’s oil exports. There are also military capabilities, including air defenses and mines buried underground.
Announcing the strike in an article on Truth Social Friday evening, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces had “totally annihilated all MILITARY targets on Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.”
The island’s oil terminal is so far untouched by the war, according to oil market research firm Energy Intelligence, and the president said the island’s oil infrastructure was spared during Friday’s attack but could be destroyed later.
“If Iran, or anyone else, does anything to interfere with the free and safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider that decision,” Trump said, as Iran has been actively interfering with shipping in the Strait for several days.
Iran’s Fars news agency, linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Telegram on Saturday that more than 15 explosions were heard on the island during the U.S. attacks, which it said targeted air defenses, a naval base, an airport control tower and a helicopter hangar.
He said there had been no damage to oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, but warned of the consequences of “any attack” on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
“If this happens, all oil and gas infrastructure in the region in which the United States and its allies have interests will be burned and destroyed,” the Iranian armed forces said.
Kharg Island is the “backbone” of Iran’s oil trade infrastructure, according to an analyst, who said Iran earned $53 billion in net oil export revenue in 2025, or about 11% of the country’s annual GDP.
The island “serves as a physical hub enabling exports of Iranian crude and a main gateway for oil revenues,” said Petras Katinas, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute on climate, energy and defense. It also allows Iran to maintain crude oil sales despite U.S. sanctions, he added, which “undermines a key tool of U.S. foreign policy.”
Trump’s attention to Kharg Island appears to go back decades. In a 1988 interview with the Guardian newspaper, in which Trump expressed his desire to one day become president, he said he would be “tough on Iran” and threaten the island.
“One bullet fired at one of our men or one of our ships and I would do a number on Kharg Island,” he said.
When Fox Radio host Brian Kilmeade asked him in an interview Friday if he would take Kharg Island after recalling his past comments, Trump responded that “that wasn’t at the top of his list.”
“Let’s say I was going to do it, let’s say I wasn’t going to do it,” Trump said. “That’s a bit of a stupid question.”
Two U.S. officials told NBC News last week that Trump had privately expressed serious interest in deploying U.S. troops to Iran.
Katinas said seizing the island would “cut off Iran’s oil lifeline” but would require a commitment of ground troops, “something this administration appears reluctant to undertake.”
With shipping through the Strait of Hormuz now halted, Iran “can’t sell it anyway,” he added. “But in the future, the seizure would give the United States leverage during negotiations, regardless of which regime is in power once the military operation is complete. »
Ehsan Jahaniyan, deputy governor of Bushehr, a port city near Kharg Island, said Saturday after the strikes that “exports, imports and business activities on the island were proceeding normally.”
The nighttime strikes came after Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a fiery first public statement on Thursday, vowing to continue blocking the vital Strait of Hormuz trade route and attacking Gulf states. The written statement was read by a national television presenter.
About a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and a third of the fertilizer used worldwide pass through this vital waterway.
Eight sailors and shipyard workers have been killed in attacks over the past two weeks, while four remain missing, according to the International Maritime Organization.
The price of oil has since risen above $100 a barrel, while the United States has eased sanctions on Russian oil in a bid to stabilize markets, a move that has drawn criticism from Ukraine and Europe.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution condemning Iranian attacks on its neighbors and calling on Tehran to end its threats against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Asked about the possibility of the US Navy escorting tankers across the strait while speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Friday, Trump replied: “It will happen soon. Very soon.”
Trump also said gas prices would drop when the war ended.
“I think gas prices, as soon as this is over, are going to drop, along with everything else. I think it’s going to be — you’re going to see a very big drop in the price of gasoline, gas, everything energy related as soon as this is over,” the president said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday dismissed the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that blocking the strategic waterway is not a major concern.
“As the world sees, they are exerting deep desperation in the Strait of Hormuz, a problem that we face. We have faced this problem and we don’t need to worry about it,” Hegseth said during the Pentagon press briefing.
“We plan to defeat, destroy and disable all of their significant military capabilities at a pace the world has never seen before,” he added.
