US President Donald Trump said in an interview that he could take Iran’s Kharg Island “very easily.”
Kharg Island, located off the west coast of Iran, is a vital oil terminal for the Middle Eastern country and is being eyed by the Pentagon for ground operations, though the United States insisted it would stop short of a full-scale invasion.
When asked by the Financial Times about the state of Iranian defense on the island, Trump said, “I don’t think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.”
Earlier, Iran’s powerful parliament speaker warned about the invasion of an Iranian island with the support of an unnamed regional country.
“Based on some intelligence reports, Iran’s enemies are preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands with support from one of the regional states,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote in an X post.
“Our forces are monitoring all enemy movements, and if they take any step, all the vital infrastructure of that regional state will be targeted with relentless, unceasing attacks.” US President Donald Trump is moving thousands of airborne troops and extra Marines to the Gulf amid speculation that he might order a ground invasion to either seize Iranian oil assets in the Gulf or secure the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
One possible target is Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports. Trump has called it a “little oil island that sits there, so totally unprotected”.
Earlier on Wednesday, an unnamed Iranian military official told local media that Iran would target shipping in the Red Sea in the event of a ground invasion, which would dramatically widen the conflict and disrupt global trade.
Iran arms and supports the Houthis in Yemen, which have previously targeted shipping traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a conduit to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
“If the enemy attempts a ground operation on Iranian islands or anywhere else on our territory, or if it seeks to impose costs on Iran through naval manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, we will open other fronts as a ‘surprise’,” the official was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.
“The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is among the most strategic straits in the world, and Iran has both the will and the capability to pose a fully credible threat against it,” the official said.
Iran War: Latest Developments
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AFP footage from the ground showed the charred shell of a warehouse billowing thick clouds of white, grey, and black smoke, while fire engines trained powerful jets of water on the blaze.
The Israeli military said the impact in the zone could be from “missile shrapnel”.
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Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the United States was “secretly planning a ground attack” despite publicly engaging in diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Aircraft carrier threat
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Journalists’ funeral
Lebanon held a funeral for three journalists killed by an Israeli strike the previous day in the south of the country.
The Israeli military said it carried out the attack to assassinate Ali Shoeib, a veteran correspondent for Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV, whom it accused, without providing evidence, of working as a Hezbollah operative.
Qatari TV office hit
Qatari news channel Al Araby said an Israeli missile hit a building housing its office in Tehran, causing damage and, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, wounding 10 people.
Agence France-Presse
