Iran has said oil exports from Kharg Island are continuing normally after overnight US strikes, insisting that the island’s oil infrastructure remains intact even as President Donald Trump warned that those facilities could be targeted if Iran continues to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest statements from Tehran appear designed to reassure energy markets after military action against one of the most important nodes in Iran’s export system. Ehsan Jahanian, political deputy to the governor of Bushehr province, said the export process at the Kharg oil terminal was “fully under way” and that companies based on the island were continuing their activities without interruption. He said parts of military facilities and Kharg Airport had been damaged, but that no military personnel, oil company employees or residents had been killed or injured.
That account broadly matches reporting from Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, which said at least 15 explosions were heard on the island during the strikes but that no damage was done to oil infrastructure. According to reports cited by the Associated Press, the targets included an air-defence site, a naval base, the airport control tower and a helicopter hangar used by an offshore oil company.
Washington has framed the operation differently. Trump said on social media that US forces had “totally obliterated” military targets on Kharg Island, describing the raid as one of the most powerful bombing operations in the history of the Middle East. At the same time, he made clear that the oil terminal had not been struck — at least for now. In a message quoted by Reuters, Trump said he had chosen not to destroy the island’s oil infrastructure, but warned that he would “immediately reconsider this decision” if Iran, or anyone else, interfered with the “free and safe passage” of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
The threat is significant because Kharg Island is central to Iran’s crude export system. About 90 per cent of Iran’s oil shipments pass through the island, which lies roughly 300 miles, or about 500 kilometres, north-west of the Strait of Hormuz. The same report says Kharg has long been regarded as a major vulnerability for Tehran because any serious damage to its terminals, pipelines or storage tanks could sharply reduce Iranian exports and tighten global supply.
Market attention has therefore focused less on the military value of the target than on whether the strikes might spread to energy infrastructure. Reuters cited analysts warning that taking out Kharg’s export network could remove around 2 million barrels a day from the market. Iran has nevertheless continued shipping oil at an estimated rate of 1.1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day despite the current conflict, according to tanker-tracking data.
Kharg’s wider importance is underlined by its role in supplying China. Iran has exported about 1.7 million barrels a day of crude so far this year, of which roughly 1.55 million barrels a day moved via Kharg. Much of that oil goes to China, and the island is reported to have storage capacity of roughly 30 million barrels.
Iran’s response has not been limited to insisting that exports continue. Iran’s armed forces warned that any strike on the country’s oil and energy infrastructure would be met by attacks on installations owned by oil companies in the region that cooperate with the United States. AP cited Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, as saying that such facilities would be targeted if Iranian energy assets were hit.
The wider strategic concern remains the Strait of Hormuz itself. The waterway carries about 20 per cent of global fossil energy supplies, making any threat to free passage there a matter of immediate international concern. Trump’s warning suggests the White House is trying to deter further Iranian pressure on shipping by signalling that Kharg’s oil facilities remain vulnerable.
