The President of the USA Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to launch major attacks on Iran and take control of its oil industry as escalating attacks between the countries pushed the Middle East closer to resuming full-scale war.
Trump said in a social media post that the US would hit Iran “VERY HARD tonight” and take “full control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries, including its vital one. Kharg Island oil terminal, in the “not too distant future”.
The US leader’s latest threats came as efforts to negotiate an end to the war appeared deadlocked. Trump has expressed his frustration with stalled negotiations, warning earlier this week that Tehran would “pay the price” for taking so long to reach a deal.
Iran’s months-long hold on the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive across the region.
The US and Iran exchanged fire for a second day in a row on Thursday after reaching a tenuous ceasefire more than a month ago. While the attacks have raised tensions in the region, they have been more limited than in the first weeks of the war, and negotiations between the US and Iran are ongoing.
Trump’s threats on Thursday, while stark, represented his latest verbal escalation in the Iran war. In April, he warned Iran that “an entire civilization will die tonight, never to come back” if it did not agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.
Trump weighs trying to seize Iran’s main oil terminal
Kharg Island – located across the Persian Gulf from US bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – is the beating heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass. It is important because Iran’s coastline is mostly too shallow for tankers to dock.
It was unclear how serious Trump was about his threat to capture him.
“My preference has always been to take Kharg Island,” Trump said in an interview Thursday on Fox News. “I don’t know that America has the guts to be honest.”
US troops would be vulnerable on Kharg Island because of its proximity – about 33 kilometers (21 miles) – to the Iranian mainland, from which they could fire missiles, drones and artillery.
Trump indicated in the interview that he remains against sending US forces to Iran. “We can go in there tomorrow. We can get soldiers—I don’t want to have boots on the ground. But if I wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take the place.”
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Trump compared his threat to take over Iran’s oil industry to how the US seized control of Venezuela’s oil sector after the capture of then-president Nicolás Maduro in January.
Iran says US strikes have made ceasefire ‘meaningless’
Back-to-back attacks rocked the Middle East for the third time this week. The first involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by two rounds of fire between the US and Iran, which targeted locations where US troops were based.
The US Army’s Central Command said the airstrikes that ended early on Thursday targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communications systems and air defense sites”.
Explosions echoed around Iran’s capital, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said the sites hit included a manufacturing complex, a military barracks and a local Guard base outside Tehran.
Tehran said it fired at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours but reported no damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired at an area with a base housing US troops, although no one was injured.
Bahrain’s interior ministry said an 11-year-old girl was injured and cars and houses were damaged by debris from the intercepted Iranian strikes.
Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the US strikes had “effectively rendered the ceasefire … meaningless”, without saying it was abandoning it.
Tensions continue over Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the US would withdraw funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the costs of damage to US allies, as well as any tariffs Iran imposes on ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Beyond the standoff over the strait, the two sides also remain at odds over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful. The US and Israel fear that Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium could be used to build an atomic weapon. This was a major reason they cited for going to war on February 28.
Iran has insisted that any deal to end 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 US and Israel and multiple crises at home.
The student, who lives in the city of Babol, said many Iranians are struggling to afford groceries in the face of massive job losses and triple-digit food inflation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of security fears.
“Everything is going wrong and there is no hope among the people”, added the student.
The student first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when he participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says his main concern is for Iran to “maintain territorial integrity and deterrence” in the face of attacks by the US and Israel.
US fires at another merchant ship to impose blockade
The US Army’s Central Command said on Thursday it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker trying to evade the US blockade of Iranian ports. He said the M/T Jalveer was carrying Iranian oil when it was decommissioned late Wednesday after its crew disobeyed US orders.
It is the ninth merchant ship the US military says it has disabled to enforce the blockade.
Three Indian sailors were killed when US forces rammed the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday, India’s minister overseeing ports and shipping said on Thursday in X.
US Central Command said US forces issued warnings before firing on the ship, which it accused of trying to evade the blockade.
The head 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 New Delhi; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Victoria Eastwood and Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
