U.S. military bombs Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub : NPR
This photo, taken in northern Israel, shows an Israeli Air Force fighter jet flying over the border area with southern Lebanon on March 13, 2026.
Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images
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President Trump said Friday that the US military has “totally annihilated all MILITARY targets on Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.”
In a Truth Social article Friday evening, Trump added that “as a matter of decency, I chose NOT to wipe out the island’s oil infrastructure.” The president warned that if Iran “or anyone else” interfered with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, “I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
Kharg Island lies 24 kilometers off the coast of Iran and is critical to Iran’s oil infrastructure and the country’s economy. About 90 percent of the crude oil exported by Iran passes through the island.
While visiting Mar-a-Lago, Florida, shortly before taking office, Trump told reporters: “The situation in Iran is going very well. Lots of great successes today, many great victories today.” When asked how long he thought the war would last, he replied: “I can’t tell you. I mean, I have my own idea, but what’s the point? It will last as long as it needs to. They’ve been decimated. The country, their country is in bad shape. Everything is falling apart.”
Earlier Friday, the U.S. military said all six crew members were killed when a KC-135 refueling plane crashed in Iraq, raising the U.S. death toll after two weeks of war with Iran.
The news came as President Trump and his defense secretary touted the success of what they call Operation Epic Fury but complained about negative media coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes hit more than 15,000 targets and injured Iran’s new supreme leader.
President Trump, in an article on Truth Social, said the United States is “totally destroying” the Iranian regime, militarily and economically.
A woman looks at a building where an apartment was targeted by an Israeli airstrike in the Burj Hammoud neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Beirut on March 14, 2026.
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Iranian and Lebanese health officials and Israeli authorities reported more than 1,300 people killed in Iran, 773 people in Lebanon and 12 civilians in Israel, as well as two Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon. Wednesday’s plane crash over Iraq brings the U.S. military death toll to 13, including seven killed by enemy fire. Eight American soldiers are seriously injured, according to the Pentagon.
The humanitarian toll has also risen as the total number of people displaced by fighting in Iran and Lebanon has reached several million.
Here are further updates on the conflict.
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American casualties | Another war to come
U.S. Casualties Mount, Additional Marines Head to the Middle East
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Friday that all six crew members died when their refueling plane crashed over Iraq.
CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, initially reported an unspecified incident involving two aircraft on Thursday. The American KC-135 refueling plane was lost in western Iraq, while the other landed safely. It is investigating the circumstances but confirmed that “the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile or friendly fire.”
This brings the American military death toll to 13, including seven killed by enemy fire, according to the Pentagon.
NPR also confirmed that an additional 2,200 U.S. Marines are heading to the Middle East.
The Okinawa, Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, will join an armada of ships participating in the war in Iran, a source told NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The source did not specify what role the Marines will play.
The deployment was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
—NPR National Security Bureau
Officials prepare for a no-deal end – and risk a ‘war routine’
A senior regional official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations, told NPR that he expected the war to last at least another week and that Israeli leaders increasingly believe that the United States and Israel will end the war unilaterally, without a negotiated agreement. In such a scenario, the official said, Iran and allied groups, including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Houthi rebels in Yemen, could set a new standard of intermittent fire on Israel, provoking repeated Israeli retaliation.
The official said this kind of retaliatory exchange would leave Israelis living in an intolerable “war routine,” even as the intensity of the conflict fades.
The official also said Israel was not ruling out an expanded ground operation in southern Lebanon, but described Israel as having so far held back from striking large civilian infrastructure, largely because the United States views Lebanon as a partner.
—Daniel Estrin, Carrie Kahn
Arezou Rezvani contributed to this report from Erbil, in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
