In a statement that sent tremors through global energy markets, Donald Trump announced Friday that US forces had executed what he described as one of the most powerful bombing raids in the entire history of the Middle East, completely destroying every military target on Iran’s Kharg Island. The island serves as Iran’s primary oil export terminal and its loss as a functional military base represents a severe blow to the country’s defensive capabilities. Trump warned that the next step could be destroying the island’s oil infrastructure itself.
The threat to strike Kharg Island’s oil facilities follows Iran’s ongoing attacks on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway critical to global energy flows that carries roughly one-fifth of worldwide oil and gas. Trump stated he had chosen not to strike the oil infrastructure this time but would “immediately reconsider” if Iran continued disrupting free passage. The warning came amid a backdrop of wild fluctuations in global oil prices as markets tried to factor in the possibility of a full-scale energy supply disruption.
Earlier in the day, Trump had described Iranian leaders as “deranged scumbags” on social media, saying it was a great personal honor for him as the 47th US president to be killing them. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth backed up the bellicose tone at a press conference in Washington, describing Iran’s leadership as desperate, hiding underground, and wounded. He pointed to the absence of any video or audio message from new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei as evidence that the leader had been physically incapacitated by the strikes.
While high-level military operations dominated the Headlines, Tehran’s residents told a story of grinding civilian suffering. Buildings shook from powerful blasts, rubble clogged the streets, power came and went, and petrol was too scarce to allow escape. A 42-year-old shopkeeper counted six explosions in an hour. A retired professor said she was begging the world to act before the city was completely destroyed. Iran reported over 1,300 of its citizens killed in the conflict.
The regional violence continued to expand outward, with Qatar joining the growing list of Gulf states struck by Iranian attacks. Doha witnessed evacuations and explosions before missile interceptions were confirmed. Saudi Arabia downed nearly 50 Iranian drones. Lebanon suffered another day of Israeli strikes, with eight killed in Sidon and the overall death toll exceeding 600. Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, injuring about 60. Six American service members died in a refuelling plane crash in Iraq, and a French soldier was killed by an Iranian-backed militia drone in the same country.