DONALD Trump says the US has blasted Iran’s strategic Kharg Island in a huge air raid.
The President boasted that American forces “totally obliterated” military targets on the regime’s prized oil hub.
Trump claimed the strike was one of the “most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East” and warned Iran not to mess with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Posting on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said the attack was launched moments earlier by US Central Command.
He wrote: “Moments ago, at my direction, 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.”
Kharg Island – a tiny speck in the Persian Gulf – is hugely important to Tehran and handles the vast majority of Iran’s oil exports.
Trump said the strikes deliberately spared the island’s oil infrastructure, but warned that decision could quickly change.
He wrote: “Our Weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the World has ever known but, for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island.”
The President then issued a stark warning aimed at Iran and anyone threatening shipping in the region.
He said: “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 this decision.”
Trump also bragged about America’s military strength and claimed Iran could not stop further attacks.
He wrote: “During my First Term, and currently, I rebuilt our Military into the Most Lethal, Powerful, and Effective Force, by far, anywhere in the World.
“Iran has NO ability to defend anything that we want to attack — There is nothing they can do about it!”
The President again vowed Tehran would never get nuclear weapons.
Trump said: “Iran will NEVER have a nuclear weapon, nor will it have the ability to threaten the United States of America, the Middle East or, for that matter, the World!”
He added: “Iran’s Military, and all others involved with this Terrorist Regime, would be wise to lay down their arms, and save what’s left of their country, which isn’t much!”
The White House has not yet released operational details of the strike.
The tiny, sun-scorched island – just five miles long and 15 miles off Iran’s coast – has long been seen as the regime’s Achilles’ heel.
Nine out of ten barrels of Iranian oil are shipped from the rocky outcrop, which is roughly half the size of Manhattan.
Oil exports fund around 40 per cent of Iran’s national budget.
That’s cash that bankrolls the regime’s military, security forces and waves of kamikaze Shahed drones.
Trump himself flagged Kharg Island as a target decades ago.
Back in 1988, when he was still a New York property mogul, he said America should strike the island if Iran attacked US forces.
He said: “They’ve been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and I’d do a number on Kharg Island. I’d go in and take it.”
Kharg Island has increasingly been seen as the ultimate pressure point on Tehran.
Some figures in Israel have openly called for its destruction.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid urged his country’s military to “destroy all of Iran’s oilfields and energy industry on Kharg Island . . . that is what will cripple Iran’s economy and topple the regime”.
Others warn such a move could spark wider retaliation against oil facilities across the Gulf.
Richard Nephew, a former US deputy special envoy for Iran, previously told The Sun: “The US and Israel are aware that if you hit it, you risk Iran really targeting the oil infrastructure of Gulf states.”
Analysts say controlling the island would effectively cut off Iran’s economic lifeline.
Petras Katinas, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said: “Seizing the island would cut off Iran’s oil lifeline, which is crucial for the regime.”
He added that controlling Kharg could give Washington huge leverage in any future negotiations over Iran’s future.
