Iran Threatens Energy Sites After Kharg Strike
- Iran warns attacks on its energy sites will trigger strikes.
- U.S. forces bomb Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export hub.
- Iran says Strait of Hormuz open except for U.S., Israeli ships.
- Debris from intercepted drone sparks fire at UAE Fujairah port.
Iran issued its sharpest economic threat yet on Saturday, warning that any attack on its oil and energy infrastructure would trigger immediate strikes on regional facilities linked to American companies a warning that arrived hours after US forces bombed Kharg Island, the hub through which roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports flow.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to US broadcaster MS Now and citing Iranian state media, said Tehran’s armed forces were already prepared to act. He also claimed the Kharg and Abu Musa Island strikes were launched from UAE territory using HIMARS rocket systems a claim US Central Command declined to comment on.
Araghchi alleged the strikes were launched “from the soil of our neighbours” specifically Ras Al-Khaimah and an area near Dubai calling the use of densely populated areas to attack Iran “absolutely unacceptable.” He added that Iran would “try to be careful not to attack any populated area” in retaliation, a warning that Iranian authorities separately issued to residents near three major UAE ports Jebel Ali, Khalifa and Fujairah urging evacuation.
Hours later, debris from an intercepted Iranian drone sparked a fire at Fujairah port, the UAE’s only crude export terminal outside the Strait of Hormuz, suspending some oil-loading operations there, according to Reuters and industry sources.
Military Command Escalates Warning
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the country’s primary military command, issued a parallel and even starker warning through its spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari, going beyond Araghchi’s statement to name a specific outcome.
The statement echoed a broader pattern of Iranian warnings since the conflict began on February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched joint strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei and senior military commanders. Iran has since responded with waves of missile and drone attacks against US and Israeli targets across the region.
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Hormuz: Open, but on Iran’s Terms
On the Strait of Hormuz the narrow chokepoint through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes Iran presented a carefully calibrated position. IRGC Navy commander Alireza Tangsiri said in a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency that the strait had not been militarily blocked but remained under Iranian control, flatly rejecting US claims that its naval presence had been destroyed.
Araghchi echoed the message with a formulation that drew immediate global attention: the strait was open for international shipping except for vessels belonging to the United States, Israel and their allies. “The Strait of Hormuz is open. It is only closed to the tankers and ships belonging to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies. Others are free to pass,” he told US media.
The position aligns with a statement attributed to Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who in his first message after assuming power pledged to maintain leverage over the strait. Araghchi separately pushed back on claims from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Mojtaba Khamenei had been wounded and disfigured in a strike. “There is no problem with the new supreme leader,” Araghchi said. “He is performing his duties according to the constitution.”
Kharg Exports Continue Despite Strike
Despite the scale of Friday’s US operation which CENTCOM said hit more than 90 military targets including naval mine storage, missile bunkers and air defence systems oil exports from Kharg Island were continuing as normal as of Saturday, according to an Iranian official.
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Ehsan Jahanian, deputy governor of Bushehr province, told Tasnim news agency that while military facilities and the airport sustained damage, there were no casualties and commercial operations remained ongoing. Maritime intelligence firm TankerTrackers confirmed that all 55 crude oil storage tanks appeared intact and that two Iranian tankers had begun loading 2.7 million barrels of crude oil on Saturday morning.
Trump, who announced the Kharg strike on Truth Social calling it “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East,” said he had deliberately spared the island’s oil infrastructure “for reasons of decency” but threatened to reconsider if Iran continued to interfere with Hormuz shipping. He called on China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom to send warships to the strait alongside US forces, saying the waterway would be opened “one way or another.”
