Trump threatens to hit Iran 'very hard tonight' and take Kharg Island oil infrastructure
President Donald Trump has posted on Truth Social that the United States will be hitting Iran “very hard tonight,” stating that Iran's Navy, Air Force, radar, anti aircraft and all other defences together with its offensive capabilities are “gone”. He also threatened to take Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure points, assuming “total control of their oil and gas markets”, similar to the US approach in Venezuela. Al Jazeera's White House correspondent Kimberly Halkett noted that Trump has used such inflammatory language before, often followed by military strikes to aggressively push Iran toward a deal. She explained that the escalation was triggered by the downing of a US Apache helicopter on Tuesday, and that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has blamed Iran for failing to take advantage of peace opportunities. Halkett added that dissenting voices in the US Congress have argued that only Congress can declare war, but efforts to rein in the president have failed.
Professor Lorenzo Kamel of the University of Turin said the war has brought a generational change in Iran's leadership, which now believes it has achieved strategic wins both domestically and regionally. Iran views its nuclear infrastructure and regional influence as existential and saw the ceasefire as a “strategic trap” weaponised by the US. Kamel argued that international actors have limited leverage: China prefers to stay on the sidelines, the European Union is “completely irrelevant”, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has an interest in prolonging the conflict, using Lebanon as a tool.
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