In a significant development, US President Donald Trump on Friday said that US forces have ‘obliterated’ military targets on Iran's Kharg Island and warned that the oil infrastructure there could be next. The small island in the Persian Gulf is the primary terminal through which Iran's oil exports pass. Trump announced the action in a social media post as he prepared to fly to Florida for the weekend. The president answered questions from reporters travelling with him before he boarded Air Force One, but he did not mention the latest US military operation against Iran.
US military has sent 2,500 Marines, one more ship to Mideast
In the meantime, the US military has sent 2,500 Marines, at least one more ship to Mideast, a US official told The Associated Press. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli have been ordered to the Middle East. The move marks a major addition of troops to the region.
Iran is about to surrender: Trump tells G7 leaders
Earlier, Trump told G7 leaders that Iran is "about to surrender," claiming success in Operation Epic Fury, a media report said on Friday. Trump made the claim on Wednesday during a virtual meeting of the G7 leaders amid growing concerns about the economic fallout of the war with Iran, Axios reported.
"I got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all," Trump told the leaders, who urged the US President to end the war quickly. During the call, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron urged Trump not to allow Russia to exploit the war or receive sanctions relief, the report said, citing two officials.
Despite the concerns voiced by the European leaders, the US on Thursday announced a temporary authorisation to other countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that the US "is decimating the radical Iranian regime's military" and that the Islamic Republic's new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was injured and "likely disfigured."
"Desperate and hiding, they've gone underground, cowering," Hegseth said at a briefing at the Pentagon. "That's what rats do. We know the new so-called not-so-Supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured," he said.
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