Donald Trump has said that his military may carry out further strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub.
The president has claimed that the US has 'totally demolished' most of the island which receives crude oil from major fields in the Persian Gulf.
Kharg Island stores the oil and loads it onto large tankers bound for international markets, making up around 90 percent of the country's oil exports.
Trump, meanwhile, suggested to NBC that it may hit the site 'a few more times just for fun'.
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“We’ve totally decimated it,” he said.
“Except, as you know, I didn’t do anything having to do with the energy lines, because having to rebuild that would take years.”
After the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last month, Trump said he was 'surprised' that Iran attacked other Middle Eastern countries in response.
On the possibility of making a deal, he added: "I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet."
Trump inisted that 'the only power they have, and it’s a power that can be closed off relatively quickly, is the power of dropping a mine or shooting a relatively short-range missile'.
"But when we get finished with the shoreline, they’re not going to have that power either," he claimed without giving an indication on when the war is likely to end.
"We’ve knocked out most of their missiles. We’ve knocked out most of their drones.
"We knocked out their manufacturing of missiles and drones, largely. Within two days, it’ll be totally decimated."
The $11.3 billion worth of munitions used in the first week of the war was responsible for killing previous supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that he aims to keep blocking the Strait of Hormuz and attacking US allies in the region.
“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” Trump said.
“I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also called Khamenei's statement a 'weak one', speculating that he is 'wounded and likely disfigured'.
“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father: dead; he’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run, and he lacks legitimacy,” Hegseth added.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Iran
Anish Vij