Trump: U.S. Airstrikes ‘Totally Obliterate’ Iranian Military Targets on “Crown Jewel” Kharg Island

“Orphan Pearl of the Persian Gulf.”

Kharg Island is the nerve center of Iran’s oil production. The depot is the beating heart of the Iranian oil industry, storing and loading most of its crude exports

The depot is the beating heart of the Iranian oil industry, storing and loading most of its crude exports.

The U.S. military bombed Iran’s most strategic economic asset, Kharg Island. The tiny spot of land in the northern Persian Gulf is the launch point for 90% of the country’s oil exports.

Despite its size, it is one of the most critical pieces of Iran’s energy infrastructure.

The US striking this small but vital island in the northern Gulf is like going for Iran’s economic jugular vein.

Ninety percent of Iran’s crude oil comes through a terminal on the island — transported through pipes from the mainland.

Very large tankers – capable of carrying up to 85 million gallons of oil — are able to come up to the island’s long jetties to pick up the oil. The island’s coast is close enough to deep waters, unlike the shallower coast of the mainland.

The tankers then come back down the Gulf and out of the Strait of Hormuz, to China — the main buyer of Iranian oil.

A terminal for the export of Iranian oil, the island provides a major source of revenue for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

US obliterates ‘every MILITARY target’ on Iran’s oil-critical Kharg Island in historic bombing raid, Trump says

By Victor Nava, NY Post, March 13, 2026, 7:18 p.m. ET

Military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island – the loading site for most of the Islamic Republic’s oil exports — were “totally obliterated” by US airstrikes during a historic bombing raid in the Persian Gulf, President Trump announced Friday.

“Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The island, located about 16 miles off the Iranian coast, is one-third the size of Manhattan and controls 90% of Iranian crude oil exports.

Trump said the island’s oil infrastructure was not targeted but may be hit in future strikes, if the Iranian regime doesn’t allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Satellite view of Iran’s Kharg Island, home to its main crude export terminal, surrounded by the Gulf.

“Our Weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the World has ever known but, for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island,” the president said.

“However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision,” Trump warned.

The two-week conflict, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, hadn’t impacted the island — with Iran exporting more fuel than before the war started, according to the Wall Street Journal – until Friday’s strikes.

The US and Israel are both believed to be keen on seizing Kharg at some point in the war, The Post reported earlier this week.

Experts have told The Post that taking control of the oil-critical island could spell doom for Iran.

“Take it out, and this means cutting off the military budget in addition to pulling the plug on the basic services that keep Iranian society functioning,” said Mohammed Soliman, a senior fellow at the DC-based Middle East Institute.

“Losing Kharg for even a few weeks will create a security and societal crisis in Iran at the same time. Tehran doesn’t get to choose which one to deal with first,” said Soliman.

Former administration official John Ullyot added that seizing Kharg and its oil facilities would “cripple the regime.”

Trump, however, downplayed his interest in taking the island in an interview with Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade that aired Friday morning.

“It’s not high on the list, but it’s one of so many different things, and I can change my mind in seconds,” the president said.

Trump chided the “Fox & Friends” co-host for even bringing up the question – hours before he attacked the island.

“Let’s say I was going to do it, or let’s say I wasn’t going to do it. What would I tell you? ‘Oh, yes, Brian, I’m thinking about doing it, let me let you know what time and when it’ll take place.’… It’s sort of a foolish question,” he said.

In his announcement of the bombing run, Trump boasted that Iran “has NO ability to defend anything” the US military chooses to attack.

“During my First Term, and currently, I rebuilt our Military into the Most Lethal, Powerful, and Effective Force, by far, anywhere in the World,” the president said. “Iran has NO ability to defend anything that we want to attack — There is nothing they can do about it!”

He maintained that Iran “will NEVER have a nuclear weapon, nor will it have the ability to threaten the United States of America, the Middle East or, for that matter, the World!”

Trump further called on members of Iran’s military and anyone with ties to the regime to “lay down their arms, and save what’s left of their country, which isn’t much!”