Washington, Mar 16: The United States carried out strikes on Iran’s key oil export hub Kharg Island, destroying most military and infrastructure targets on the island while deliberately sparing oil facilities, US President Donald Trump said.
Trump stated that the operation targeted military sites including locations believed to be storing missiles and mines but avoided damaging energy infrastructure to allow the possibility of rebuilding in the future.
“We left the pipes. We didn’t want to do that, but we could do that on five minutes’ notice,” Trump said, referring to the decision to leave the island’s oil pipelines intact.
Kharg Island is central to Iran’s oil industry as it handles nearly 90 per cent of the country’s oil exports and lies about 300 miles northwest of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil shipments.
Trump said US forces had “totally decimated” the targeted facilities on the island but avoided damaging energy lines because rebuilding them would take years. “Except, as you know, I didn’t do anything having to do with the energy lines, because having to rebuild that would take years,” he said.
The US president also indicated that further strikes could not be ruled out. “We totally demolished Kharg Island, but we may hit it a few more times just for fun,” he said.
Iran accused the United States of using facilities in the United Arab Emirates to launch the strikes and warned that any attack on its oil and energy infrastructure would prompt retaliation against facilities belonging to oil companies working with the US in the region.
Meanwhile, global oil prices have surged by more than 40 per cent since the start of the US-Israel conflict with Iran, with benchmark crude rising above USD 103 per barrel. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been largely disrupted due to Iranian threats.
The United States has also deployed an additional 2,500 Marines and up to three warships to the Middle East, joining around 50,000 American troops already stationed in the region.
Iran told the United Nations Security Council that more than 1,348 civilians have been killed in the conflict so far, while officials in Lebanon reported nearly 800 deaths and over 2,000 injuries since hostilities began.
