President Donald Trump said U.S. forces “obliterated” targets on Iran’s Kharg Island on Friday, hitting air defense facilities, a naval base, the airport control tower, and a helicopter hangar, while sparing oil infrastructure.
Trump also warned that any Iranian attack on U.S.-linked energy facilities would face retaliation.
The strikes come nearly two weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, amid Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel and Gulf states and Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route. Trump claimed on social media that Iran “wants a deal, but not a deal I would accept.”
Iranian authorities reported at least 1,230 dead since the conflict began on Feb. 28, including six members of the same family killed in an airstrike in Eyvan. Iran’s joint military command reiterated threats to target U.S.-linked oil and energy facilities across the region if Iranian energy infrastructure is attacked.
Meanwhile, 2,500 additional U.S. Marines and an amphibious assault ship have been dispatched to the Middle East.
In Iraq, a separate airstrike killed at least one person in Baghdad’s Karrada district before a missile hit a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound. No immediate comment was issued by the embassy. Iraqi authorities condemned the strike as a “blatant violation of all humanitarian values.”
The U.S. Embassy, one of the largest diplomatic complexes worldwide, has repeatedly faced rocket and drone attacks by Iran-aligned militias, which have recently intensified assaults on bases hosting U.S. and coalition forces. A drone strike in northern Iraq on Thursday killed a French soldier and wounded others serving with the international coalition.
Iranian media reported at least 15 explosions and thick smoke over Kharg Island following the U.S. strikes. Hamas also called on Iran to avoid attacks on neighboring Arab countries, while affirming Tehran’s right to respond to U.S.-Israeli aggression in line with international norms.
The conflict has left millions displaced, heightened regional tensions, and threatens global energy security.
