Trump says US will hit Iran ‘very hard tonight’ again, threatens to take ‘total control’ of Kharg Island | World

Amid intensified war with Iran, US President Donald Trump on Thursday said America would hit Iran ‘very hard’, threatening in a social media post to “assume total control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries, including the key Kharg Island, in the “not too distant future.”

US and Iran trade strikes for second day

The post from Donald Trump comes after the US and Iran traded strikes for a second day, pushing the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war. The American attack, which lasted into Thursday morning in Iran, appeared more intense and wider than the day before.

Iran released little information on the extent of the damage and said it fired back at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, as it had a day before. The US military continued to enforce its blockade of Iranian ports, saying Thursday it fired missiles to disable a tanker attempting to transport Iranian oil.

Earlier in the day, the US and Iran launched strikes for a second day, pushing the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war. The American attack, which lasted into Thursday morning in Iran, appeared more intense and wider than the day before, but Tehran released little information on the extent of the damage.

US military says it used missile fire to disable oil tanker

Also, the US military said it used missile fire to disable an oil tanker near trying to break its blockade of Iranian ports. The announcement came after an Indian official said a prior US strike on a different vessel nearby killed three Indian mariners, underscoring the danger to seafarers.

It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have rattled the Middle East. The first involved attacks between Iran and Israel, followed by the two rounds of fire between the US and Iran, which hit countries in the region that host American bases.

The new exchange of fire came as efforts to negotiate an end to the war appeared stuck, with US President Donald Trump warning that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the US attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire … meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.

US strikes Iran and Iran fires back at Gulf states

Central Command said its latest round of airstrikes came “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression” and targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defence sites.” It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes, which it said ended just before sunrise Thursday in Iran.

Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran’s capital, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said sites hit included a manufacturing complex, a military barracks and a local Guard base outside of Tehran.

Iran said it fired back at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, as it had a day before. Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours because of the attack, but did not elaborate on any damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired toward an area that is home to a base hosting US troops, though no one was hurt.

Trump says US is sneaking oil through Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s ability to control the Strait of Hormuz has proved a strong bargaining chip since the narrow waterway’s effective closure has severely disrupted the global economy. Trump said Wednesday that the US military has undertaken a mission since last month to sneak oil shipments past Iran’s forces in the strait, aided by the destruction of Iranian radar equipment.

Trump said as a result more than 100 million barrels of oil have evaded Iran’s chokehold. There was no immediate confirmation of that figure, which equals roughly five days of oil shipments through the waterway before the war began. But the seas remain dangerous for mariners.

The US military’s Central Command said on Thursday that it struck an oil tanker in waters just outside the Strait of Hormuz to enforce its blockade on Iranian ports. It said Hellfire missiles were launched at the ship in the Gulf of Oman late on Wednesday after its crew failed to comply with US orders. It’s the ninth merchant vessel the US military says it has disabled since imposing the blockade in waters off Iran.

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