This handout image taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows Iran's Kharg Island, about 25 kilometres south of the mainland in the north of the Gulf, on March 7, 2026. - / AFP
US President Donald Trump said Friday, March 13, that the US military had heavily bombed military targets on Iran's Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran's crude exports, and threatened to hit the island's oil infrastructure.
"The United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran's crown jewel, Kharg Island," Trump said on social media.
"I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, 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."
The US and Israel have treaded carefully around the island, but Trump administration officials have been reported as saying that capturing Kharg was on the table as the war in the Middle East persists.
