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US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) shared an AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform depicting an "attack" on Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil-export hub.
The footage showed an oil storage tank and an oil tanker exploding, as viewed from an aircraft flying above the island. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, "Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!" Kharg Island has historically handled the majority of Iran's oil exports, making it a crucial economic and energy infrastructure node for the country. Amid escalating tension between the United States and Iran, Trump has repeatedly threatened to seize or destroy the island since the beginning of the war. His post comes following his interview on Fox News, as Trump reiterated his stance that Iran "cannot have a nuclear weapon", asserting that Tehran would use such a weapon against Israel and could pose a wider threat to the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Speaking to Fox News on "Sunday Night in America", Trump said, "Iran is a number one leading state sponsor of terror. You've heard that many times, in the whole world. They cannot have a nuclear weapon." Following the US strike, Iran claimed to have launched ballistic missiles at two US air bases in Jordan, Press TV reported. Sharing footage by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Press TV claimed that the ballistic missiles were launched at the technical and maintenance infrastructure and fighter-jet positions at two US air bases in Jordan--King Hussein and Al-Azraq. News outlet Al Arabiya said that Jordanian Air Defences intercepted the Iranian missile launches. The Iranian retaliation came on the heels of the strike at Larak Island, where several people have been left wounded and killed. Iran's IRIB said that the American attack on Larak Island occurred in two waves. It claimed that the sounds heard from Sirik were caused by Iranian defensive actions. The counter-strikes came after the IRGC Public Relations Department issued a statement warning of direct "vengeance upon criminals" and promising the "punishment of the aggressor." IRGC spokesman and public relations chief Hossein Mohebbi condemned the military action as a "grave blunder" occurring alongside newly imposed US economic measures. "This action was a strategic and fatal error by the Trump regime in the course of the economic war, an error that will shift the balance against its planners and will entail heavy costs," Mohebbi said. "The enemy will pay the consequences of this miscalculation in both the economic and military arenas." Earlier on Sunday, the US military launched strikes on Iran's Larak Island, targeting two Iranian missile launchers, CNN reported, citing an American official. The strikes hit a highly strategic location near the northern edge of the Strait of Hormuz, the global shipping chokepoint currently at the centre of escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran. According to Fox News, the strikes were launched after US officials observed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) preparing to fire rockets and deploy sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The military engagement follows the August 24 announcement by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding the launch of "Operation Economic Outcast," a campaign designed to cut off Iran's global financial networks and regime revenue sources. (ANI)
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