Donald Trump's latest threat comes after the US and Iran traded strikes for a second day, pushing the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war13:45, 11 Jun 2026Updated 13:59, 11 Jun 2026Donald Trump says Iran will be hit "very hard tonight," as he threatened to take the regimes "crown jewel" Kharg Island.‌The Truth Social post by the President came after the US and Iran traded strikes for a second day, pushing the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war.‌The American attack, which lasted into Thursday morning in Iran, appeared more intense and wider than the day before. Iran released little information on the extent of the damage and said it fired back at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, as it had a day before.‌And now in a new threat Trump said: "The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT."At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP."‌The US military has continued to enforce its blockade of Iranian ports, saying today it fired missiles to disable a tanker attempting to transport Iranian oil. An Indian official said a US strike on a different merchant ship earlier this week killed three Indian sailors.It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have rattled the Middle East. The first involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of fire between the US and Iran, which hit countries in the region that host American bases.Article continues belowEfforts to negotiate an end to the war appear stuck, with Trump having warned that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement today that the US attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire ... meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.Central to the negotiations is Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.Iran announced Thursday that the strait was closed — but it was unclear what that meant since it has severely restricted traffic through the waterway since early in the war and only a trickle of ships have gotten through. The US military’s Central Command disputed the claim — and Trump said Wednesday that the US has undertaken a secret mission in recent weeks to sneak ships through the passage.