To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet
browser that
supports HTML5
video
A missile has landed on the US Embassy inside Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone, with smoke seen rising from the constructing.
The attack is believed to have damaged a helipad contained in the compound within the fortified area, which houses diplomatic missions and government offices.
Footage posted on social media shows flames raging on the rooftop and thick smoke rising from the constructing within the Iraqi capital today.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was a projectile or a drone. The embassy has not immediately commented on the attack.
Earlier today, Donald Trump said US forces have ‘totally obliterated’ military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island.
Posting on Truth Social, the US president hailed American troops who ‘executed one of the crucial powerful bombing raids within the History of the Middle East’.
Kharg Island, situated 16 miles off the coast of Iran and around 300 miles from the Strait of Hormuz, handles around 90% of its oil exports.
Dubbed the ‘Forbidden Island’, it’s heavily guarded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Announcing the bombing raid, Trump wrote: ‘Moments ago, at my direction, america Central Command executed one of the crucial powerful bombing raids within the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY goal in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.
‘For reasons of decency, I actually have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. Nevertheless, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Protected Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I’ll immediately reconsider this decision.’
In a later post, Trump said: ‘Iran had plans of taking on your complete Middle East, and completely obliterating Israel. JUST LIKE IRAN ITSELF, THOSE PLANS ARE NOW DEAD!’
What’s Kharg Island?
Kharg Island is the first terminal that handles Iran’s oil exports. It’s situated 16 miles off the coast of Iran and 300 miles northwest of the Strait of Hormuz
The president had earlier threatened to strike oil infrastructure on Kharg Island unless attacks on vessels on the Strait of Hormuz ceased.
The IRGC warned the energy infrastructure of US allies within the Middle East will likely be ‘reduced to ashes’ if Iranian energy assets were attacked.
It said oil and energy assets of any countries cooperating with the US can be ‘immediately destroyed’ within the event of more attacks on the country’s energy sites.
In a social media post, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said the regime ‘will abandon all restraint’ if the islands come under attack and said Trump will likely be accountable for ‘the blood of American soldiers’.
Markets were looking forward to any sign that US strikes had damaged the island’s intricate network of pipelines, terminals and storage tanks.
Even minor disruptions could further tighten global supply, adding pressure to a volatile market.
Oil prices have swung sharply on Trump’s changing comments concerning the likely duration of the war, which began on February 28 with massive US and Israeli bombardments of Iran and quickly spread right into a regional conflict with broad consequences for worldwide energy and stock markets.
In other attacks across the region, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they’d carried out additional attacks on Israel with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.
Lebanon has change into an escalating flashpoint within the war with Israel’s military and Hezbollah forces exchanging strikes in and around Beirut.
On Friday, the Israeli military said its air force had struck greater than 200 targets in western and central Iran over the past day, including ballistic missile launchers, air-defence systems and weapons production sites.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Trump deploys 5,000 US Marines to Middle East amid spiralling oil prices
MORE: Photo of Marco Rubio’s feet goes viral after Trump’s shoe-size taunt
MORE: Dubai is now a ‘ghost town’ of empty sun-loungers and pools