US President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to launch major strikes on Iran and seize control of its oil and gas industries as continuing attacks between the warring countries pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war. Trump said in a social media post that the US would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and would “assume total control” of Iran's oil and gas industries, including the key Kharg Island oil terminal, in the “not too distant future.” Trump compared his plans for Iran to how the US assumed control of Venezuela's oil sector after capturing then-president Nicolás Maduro in January. The post come after the US and Iran traded strikes for a second straight day. The American attack, which lasted into Thursday morning in Iran, appeared more intense and widespread 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. Trump's threats on Thursday, while stark, represented his latest verbal escalation in the Iran war. In April, he warned Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if it didn't agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire in the war. Kharg Island — located on the other side of the Persian Gulf from US bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — is the beating heart of Iran's oil industry, through which 90 per cent of its exports pass. It is important because Iran's coastline is mostly too shallow for tanker ships to dock.
American troops would be vulnerable on Kharg Island because of its close proximity — about 33 kilometres (21 miles) — to the Iranian mainland, from which missiles, drones and artillery could be fired.