U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to launch major strikes on Iran and seize control of its oil industry as escalating attacks between the countries pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war.
Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries, including the vital Kharg Island oil terminal, within the “not too distant future.”
The American leader’s latest threats got here as efforts to barter an end to the war appeared stuck. Trump has voiced his frustration with the stalled negotiations, warning earlier within the week that Tehran would “pay the worth” for taking too long to succeed in a deal.
Iran’s monthslong stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics dearer well beyond the region.
The U.S. and Iran traded strikes for a second straight day Thursday after reaching a tenuous ceasefire greater than a month ago. While the strikes have increased tensions within the region, they’ve been more limited in comparison with the early weeks of the war and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are ongoing.
Trump’s threats on Thursday, while stark, represented his latest verbal escalation within the Iran war. In April, he warned Iran that “an entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if it didn’t conform to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.
Trump weighs attempting to seize Iran’s principal oil terminal
Kharg Island — situated on the opposite side of the Persian Gulf from U.S. bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — is the beating heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass. It will be significant because Iran’s coastline is generally too shallow for tanker ships to dock.
It was unclear how serious Trump was about his threat to seize it.
“My preference has all the time been to take Kharg Island,” Trump said in an interview Thursday on Fox News. “I don’t know that America has the stomach for it to be honest.”
American troops can be vulnerable on Kharg Island due to its proximity — about 33 kilometers (21 miles) — to the Iranian mainland, from which missiles, drones and artillery might be fired.
Trump indicated within the interview that he stays averse to sending U.S. forces into Iran. “We could walk in there tomorrow. We could take soldiers — I don’t wish to have boots on the bottom. But when I desired to we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the place.”
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Trump compared his threat to take over Iran’s oil industry to how the U.S. assumed control of Venezuela’s oil sector after capturing then-president Nicolás Maduro in January.
Iran says US attacks have made ceasefire `meaningless’
Back-and-forth strikes rattled the Middle East for the third time this week. The primary involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the 2 rounds of fireside between the U.S. and Iran, which targeted countries were U.S. troops are based.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said airstrikes ending early Thursday targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites.”
Explosions echoed around Iran’s capital, in addition to the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said sites hit included a producing complex, a military barracks and an area Guard base outside of Tehran.
Tehran said it fired back at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours but didn’t report any damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired toward an area with a base hosting U.S. troops, though nobody was hurt.
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said an 11-year-old girl was hurt and cars and houses were damaged by debris from intercepted Iranian strikes.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a press release Thursday that the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire … meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.
Tensions persist over Iran’s nuclear program, Strait of Hormuz
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the prices of harm to American allies in addition to any tolls Iran imposes on ships searching for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the 2 sides also remain at odds over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful. The U.S. and Israel fear Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium might be used to construct an atomic weapon. That was a principal reason they cited for going to war Feb. 28.
Iran has insisted that any deal to finish the war must also end fighting in Lebanon between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the militant group.
Iranian student says hope dwindles as attacks escalate
A 25-year-old student in northern Iran says Iranians are fearing “chaos” amid the war with the U.S. and Israel and multiplying crises at home.
The scholar, who lives in town of Babol, said many Iranians are struggling to afford groceries within the face of mass job losses and triple-digit food inflation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of security fears.
“Every little thing goes fallacious and there isn’t any hope among the many people,” the scholar added.
The scholar first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when he participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says his chief concern is that Iran “maintain territorial integrity and deterrence” within the face of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.
US fires on one other merchant ship to implement blockade
The U.S. military’s Central Command said Thursday that it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. It said the M/T Jalveer was transporting Iranian oil when it was disabled late Wednesday after its crew did not obey U.S. orders.
It’s the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it disabled to implement the blockade.
Three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday, India’s minister overseeing ports and shipping said Thursday on X.
U.S. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before firing on the ship, which it accused of attempting to evade the blockade.
The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, condemned the attack.
Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Will Weissert, Collin Binkley, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Sheikh Saaliq in Recent Delhi; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Victoria Eastwood and Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.