Trump Threatens New Strikes on Iran, Considers Seizing Kharg Island

He notably did not list Iran in the list of “all parties involved,” and the Iranian government has not publicly weighed in on Thursday.

Trump has for weeks oscillated between touting a near-final agreement and threatening additional military action, making Thursday’s announcement the latest twist in a conflict that has repeatedly lurched between diplomacy and escalation.

Trump started Thursday warning that new strikes were imminent and that the U.S. was preparing to take control of Kharg Island, a strip of land critical to Iran’s oil exports.

But almost immediately, he walked back the threat to seize Iranian oil resources, telling Fox News this morning that he wasn’t sure the United States “has the stomach” for a protracted fight over the island.

“I’m not sure the country has the appetite for it. Does that make sense to you?” Trump said. “As good as it is. By the way, as good as it is, that’s always been my No. 1 thing. But as good as it is, I’m not sure the country has the appetite for it. And that’s OK, I understand that.“

The president’s interview came less than an hour after he wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. intends to continue striking Iran on Thursday night and floated Venezuela as a model for managing the Middle East country’s energy infrastructure.

“The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT,” he wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns.

The president’s post marked his most serious threat against Iran since before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in April. It comes after U.S. forces launched airstrikes in Iran this week, with the ceasefire increasingly under strain and peace talks stalled.

This isn’t the first time Trump has taken to Truth Social to invoke dire threats against Iran since the U.S. and Israel first struck the country in late February. In April, just before the two sides agreed to the ceasefire, Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

The president’s plan to assert control over Kharg Island — a small landmass in the Persian Gulf that serves as Iran’s main oil export hub — “at some point in the not too distant future” would mark a major shift in the war effort, now well into its fourth month.

In addition to previewing new attack plans, Trump said the U.S. would “assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America.”

Kharg is Iran’s oil hub, where about 90 percent of its exports are loaded. Trump has previously launched strikes on the island, but avoided hitting its energy infrastructure.

White House allies have called for the seizure of Kharg, a 5-mile strip of land just off Iran’s coast, as a strategy to force the Iranian regime to capitulate by choking off its economic lifeline.

However, the seizure of Kharg — as opposed to its destruction by missile strikes — would require a risky ground troop operation likely under heavy fire. First, U.S. forces would have to travel through the Strait of Hormuz and into the gulf where they would be exposed to Iranian attacks. Troops would also have to storm the island, then defend whatever land they seize.

That could cost more American lives at a time when the public has soured on the war — and Trump’s approval rating has fallen.

Still, the president on Thursday morning brushed aside suggestions that he’s growing impatient with Iran.

Asked on Fox News whether he was frustrated with Tehran, Trump replied: “I’m not frustrated. I don’t get frustrated.”

The president then paired his most aggressive rhetoric yet about Iran’s military position with a renewed insistence that he does not want to send U.S. troops into the country.

“There will be more bombing tonight. It will be bigger. Bigger. More powerful,” Trump said, arguing that U.S. forces have already destroyed Iran’s air defenses. “I don’t want to have boots on the ground. If I wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the whole place.”

On Wednesday, he told reporters that the U.S. would “be attacking them very hard” in response to an American Apache helicopter that crashed near Oman on Monday after it was struck, Trump said, by Iran. The two sides have traded strikes, with Iran targeting American assets in other Middle Eastern nations.

Iran hawks cheered the escalation. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), in an X post Thursday morning, called the president’s threat “welcome news,” adding that taking Kharg Island would be the “ultimate gamechanger.”

“The combination of continuing to force the Strait open and at the same time controlling Kharg Island’s operations by force or blockade would be the most consequential move President Trump could make, regaining the dominance and leverage America needs to end this conflict on favorable terms,” Graham wrote.

Iran, Graham continued, isn’t a “reliable partner” in the negotiations to end the conflict and “at every turn” creates provocation in an attempt to obtain leverage in discussions.

Trump has long claimed he would take Kharg but has not moved forward thus far. That’s because any attempt would likely result in a significant escalation of Iran’s attacks on the region’s energy infrastructure. Iran has already knocked out a significant portion of Qatar’s natural gas production and has launched drones and missiles at other regional infrastructure.

At the same time, the global energy market has already burned through its buffers of oil inventories. Many regions of the world are expected to hit tank bottom in the coming weeks. A further stoppage of oil flows from the Gulf region would likely cause oil prices to spike beyond $150 a barrel and could drive domestic gas prices beyond $5 a gallon.