President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Iran on Saturday, threatening to destroy the country’s oil export infrastructure unless Tehran reopened the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. Trump had previously stated he was refraining from hitting oil facilities “for reasons of decency,” but made clear that continued Iranian interference with maritime passage would force him to abandon that restraint. The warning came after US bombers devastated Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, in a series of strikes that began Friday.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, handles roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil and gas shipments. Iran shut the strait at the outset of the conflict, which began on February 28, triggering a sharp spike in global energy prices. Trump’s social media posts on Saturday called on allied nations — including China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the UK — to contribute warships to a coalition effort to reopen the passage by force if necessary.
Iran responded defiantly, launching ballistic missiles at the UAE and threatening additional strikes on any facility in the region with American ties. Iranian officials urged civilians near UAE ports to evacuate as military operations intensified. The semi-official Fars news agency reported at least 15 deaths from an Israeli airstrike on a factory in Isfahan, underscoring the multi-front nature of the conflict. The Israeli air force said it was systematically targeting Iran’s missile launch capacity.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth described Iran’s leadership as “desperate and hiding,” claiming that Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, had been wounded and possibly disfigured in an earlier Israeli strike. Iranian officials acknowledged the injury but described it as minor. Meanwhile, analysts at the International Crisis Group argued that Iran’s core strategy was one of survival first, sustained retaliation second, and prolonging the conflict until a favourable negotiated end could be secured.
The war’s economic shockwaves were spreading beyond the Gulf. Oil prices were pushing toward $120 per barrel and threatening to go higher. More than 1,400 Iranians were reported dead, with Lebanon suffering 800 killed and 850,000 displaced amid simultaneous Israeli strikes against Hezbollah. Six US service members died in a military aircraft crash in Iraq. Trump declined to give any timeline for ending the war, saying only that it would continue “as long as it’s necessary.”