Iran Calls Trump’s Kharg Island Attack Claim ‘Laughable’, Says Oil Operations Continue

Iran has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s key oil hub, Kharg Island, was blown up, saying conditions on the island remained calm and oil operations had not stopped.

Trump posted an AI-generated video clip on his Truth Social platform on Sunday that he said showed Kharg Island being blown up and wrote: “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT”. Several hours after the post, there was no evidence Kharg had been attacked. Reuters confirmed that the accompanying video, which showed dramatic explosions, was most likely synthetically generated using software that detects AI-manipulated imagery.

The post came hours after the United States and Iran resumed hostilities for the first time since July. The US had carried out strikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak, while Iranian media reported attacks on two US bases in Jordan and Iran’s army said it had targeted the UAE’s Al Minhad air base. The UAE’s defence ministry denied the reported attack.

Iran Says Kharg Remains Operational

Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the government-run National Iranian Oil Co, rejected Trump’s claim about Kharg.

“Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Bovard said, according to Nournews, a semi-official outlet close to Iran’s top security body.

Oil operations on the island had not stopped, Bovard said, adding that workers were repairing previous damage and modernising facilities.

The White House and the US Defense Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.

Kharg handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war began with US and Israeli attacks on February 28. Attacking the island would severely disrupt energy trade and put huge pressure on Iran’s economy.

Iran Warns Against Further Aggression

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was not seeking war but would respond decisively to any aggression.

“We will never remain silent in the face of any aggression and will respond decisively to the aggressors,” state media quoted him as saying on Monday ahead of a visit to Kyrgyzstan.

It was not clear whether he was speaking before or after Trump’s post about Kharg Island.

US forces had attacked rocket launchers on Larak, a small island in the Strait of Hormuz about 660 km (410 miles) east of Kharg. The island is near the strategic port of Bandar Abbas and overlooks shipping lanes at the mouth of the Gulf.

A US official said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces had been observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Central Command said it had taken “limited, precise” action against minelaying forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that posed an “imminent threat” in the strait. It gave no further details.

Iranian media said Iran responded to the Larak attack with an assault on two US bases in Jordan. Iran’s foreign ministry said the strikes targeted US bases used to launch and support the attack on Larak.

Jordan’s armed forces intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace, state television said, while a Fox News reporter said nearly all incoming missiles had been intercepted.

Iran’s army said it also carried out a drone attack early on Monday against the UAE’s Al Minhad air base, saying the target was sites where US forces and helicopters were stationed. It said the attack was in response to casualties from the Larak strike.

The UAE’s defence ministry dismissed reports that the air base had been attacked as false.

The Revolutionary Guards also used air defence missiles to shoot down a US drone that crashed in Gulf waters, Mehr news agency reported on Monday, citing a statement from the elite force.

Shipping Faces New Threats

The return to hostilities has also threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

A supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after being struck by two naval mines in the southern Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state television reported, citing a statement from the Revolutionary Guards.

The Guards said the supertanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally but gave no details of the vessel or its crew. It warned that other ships infringing its mandatory regulations to transit the strait could face the same fate.

According to Reuters, the number of visible commodity vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz dropped to five a day over the weekend. The actual number could be higher because some vessels have switched off their automatic identification systems to evade attacks.

Last week, Trump said all mines had been detonated or removed from the international waters of the strait. He also warned Iran that any vessel placing new mines would be destroyed.

Trump has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz is open. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ navy, however, called those statements “an obvious lie” and reiterated that the waterway remained closed to ships without Iranian permission.

The waterway carried nearly a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before it was blockaded in the six-month-old Iran war. Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Washington Plans More Iran Sanctions

Sunday’s return to hostilities followed weeks in which the Trump administration had stepped up efforts to punish Tehran and its business partners with costly economic sanctions, shifting away from military options.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday that new secondary sanctions were likely to be unveiled weekly, with an initial focus on banks.

“We're starting with the banks, and we're telling the banks it's not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime,” Bessent said in an interview.

The United States imposed penalties on the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr on Friday over alleged financial links to Iran. Bessent said the next step could be cutting off an institution entirely from the dollar-based financial system.

“You're going to see a lot more of these every week,” Bessent told Reuters ahead of a meeting of Group of 20 finance leaders.

A US official said the Larak strikes were the first known US military strikes since late July. The official said the Iranian forces targeted in the operation had been preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

The renewed fighting comes as Washington continues its sanctions campaign against Tehran and its business partners, while the reported mine strike and reduced visible vessel traffic have added to uncertainty over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.