Iran's key oil export hub, Kharg Island, was reportedly hit by multiple strikes hours before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian media outlet Mehr News. The news agency reported a large explosion on the strategically vital island, located in the Strait of Hormuz, early Tuesday. In a Telegram post, the outlet claimed that the "American-Zionist enemy" had carried out several attacks, with multiple blasts heard across the island.
The reported strikes come amid heightened tensions following Trump's warning of a large-scale bombing campaign targeting Iran's critical infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, if Tehran failed to comply with the deadline.
Iran's Kharg Island hosts the country's main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world, about 30 kilometres south of the mainland in the north of the Gulf.
Earlier on March 13, US President Donald Trump had said that American forces had "totally obliterated" all military targets on Iran's Kharg Island oil export hub, describing it in a social media post as "one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East." He said he had chosen not to "wipe out" oil infrastructure on the Iranian island, for now.
Completed a broad wave of strikes in Iran: Israeli military
The report on Kharg Island came after the Israeli military said it had completed a broad wave of strikes targeting "infrastructure sites" across Iran on Tuesday, without providing details of what the sites were.
"A short while ago, the IDF completed a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting dozens of infrastructure sites belonging to the Iranian terror regime in several areas across Iran," the military said in a statement.
The US and Israel also launched an attack on a bridge near the Iranian city of Qom, south of Tehran, on Tuesday, the deputy governor of the province said, according to state TV. "A few minutes ago, one of the bridges on Qom's communication lines, outside the city of Qom and in the west of the province, was attacked by American and Zionist enemy projectiles," Morteza Heydari said.
Israeli strike hits railway bridge in Kashan, kills 2
Meanwhile, two people were killed in a US-Israeli attack on a rail bridge in the central Iranian city of Kashan, a regional official told state media on Tuesday. "A few minutes ago, the American-Zionist aggressor attacked the Yahya Abad railway bridge in Kashan city," a senior regional security official in Isfahan province, Akbar Salehi, was quoted as saying by Iran's IRNA news agency.
"Two people were martyred and three others were injured in this attack," he added.
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