The United States has carried out what President Donald Trump described as one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East, striking Iran’s most important oil export hub on Kharg Island as the war draws to the end of its second week.

Iran has attacked tankers and threatened to close the route entirely

Iran has attacked tankers and threatened to close the route entirely

In a statement posted online, Trump said U.S. Central Command had “totally obliterated every MILITARY target” on the island, which he described as Iran’s “crown jewel”. Kharg Island, a five-mile-long outpost about 19 miles off the Iranian coast, accounts for roughly 90 per cent of the country’s oil exports.

Despite the scale of the attack, Trump said he had deliberately chosen not to destroy the island’s oil infrastructure. “For reasons of decency,” he wrote, the United States had refrained from wiping out the facilities. But he warned that restraint could end quickly. Should Iran interfere with the free passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, he said, he would “immediately reconsider this decision”.

The strike underscores the central role of the strait in the conflict. Normally about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the narrow waterway between Iran and the Gulf states. Iran has already attacked tankers and threatened to close the route entirely. In a statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, the country’s new supreme leader, the regime has vowed to shut the strait down.

Meanwhile, European governments are scrambling to secure energy supplies as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. France and Italy have........

© The Spectator