The US has launched large-scale strikes on Iran's Kharg Island in the Gulf, with President Donald Trump saying that it had "totally obliterated every MILITARY target" on the Island.
"I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island," he said on his Truth Social site, adding, "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."
Iran's Fars news agency said that the island's oil infrastructure, which is the export terminal for 90 percent of Iranian oil shipments, had not been damaged, and that the US " tried to damage the army's defences, the Joshan naval base, the airport control tower and the helicopter hangar of the Iranian Continental Shelf Oil Company."
Iran's military said that it would respond to any strikes against Iranian oil facilities with attacks on US-linked firms, which would "immediately be destroyed and turned into a pile of ashes."
Amid the expansion of the war, US media reports that the US is sending Marines to the Gulf, with the Wall Street Journal saying that the USS Tripoli and 2,500 Marines were en route.