Trump Calls Iran’s Energy Hub a Target as Global Oil Supplies Face Mounting Threat

Global energy markets were thrown into fresh turmoil on Friday when President Donald Trump announced that US forces had completely destroyed every military facility on Iran’s Kharg Island and warned that the island’s vital oil infrastructure would be next if Iran continued to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump had spent the day calling Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” and declaring their deaths a personal honor, but it was the threat to Kharg Island’s oil exports that sent the sharpest signal to world markets.
Kharg Island handles the vast majority of Iran’s oil exports and serves as the country’s most critical petroleum terminal. Trump made clear he had chosen to spare the oil infrastructure this time around, describing it as a conditional decision that could be reversed immediately. The Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies travel, has already been effectively blockaded by Iran through attacks on commercial and military shipping. US officials said they were “dealing with” the attacks and insisted the strait had not yet been mined.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that combined US-Israeli forces had struck more than 15,000 enemy targets since the war began. Israel separately confirmed over 200 strikes in the most recent 24 hours, hitting Iranian missile systems, weapons factories, and air defence infrastructure. The larger campaign has inflicted severe damage on Iran’s military capabilities, though Iran has responded with its own daily offensive operations targeting Gulf states, Israel, and Strait of Hormuz shipping.
Tehran’s civilian population is paying a devastating price. Residents describe constant explosions, power cuts, rubble in the streets, and a fuel shortage so acute that many who want to flee cannot do so. A 42-year-old shopkeeper said she had counted six explosions in a single hour. A retired professor described begging the world to intervene, with sick relatives at home and no means of escape. Iranian authorities report over 1,300 deaths in the country since the conflict began with the Israeli killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
European nations, reportedly including France, opened quiet diplomatic negotiations with Tehran seeking guaranteed safe passage for commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Italy denied involvement. Oil prices fell slightly on Friday after steep drops the previous day, though the underlying insecurity of a war with no end in sight kept markets nervous. Thirteen US service members have been killed in the conflict, including six in a tanker aircraft crash in Iraq. France lost one soldier in Iraq to an Iranian militia drone. Lebanon has recorded over 600 dead and 800,000 displaced.