{"id":156275,"date":"2026-06-11T20:44:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T20:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/156275\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T20:44:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T20:44:40","slug":"trump-threatens-to-seize-iranian-island-vital-to-oil-exports-as-ceasefire-teeters-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/156275\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump threatens to seize Iranian island vital to oil exports, as ceasefire teeters"},"content":{"rendered":"

(AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to launch major strikes on Iran and seize control of its oil industry as escalating attacks between the countries pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a\u00a0full-scale war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

A small motorboat passes anchored vessels in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Thursday, June 11, 2026.(Amirhosein Khorgooi\/ISNA via AP)<\/p>\n

Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. would hit Iran \u201cVERY HARD TONIGHT\u201d and take \u201ctotal control\u201d of Iran\u2019s oil and gas industries, including the vital\u00a0Kharg Island oil terminal<\/a>, in the \u201cnot too distant future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American leader\u2019s latest threats came as efforts to negotiate an end to the war appeared stuck. Trump has voiced his frustration with the\u00a0stalled negotiations<\/a>, warning earlier in the week that Tehran would \u201cpay the price\u201d for taking too long to reach a deal.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s monthslong stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made\u00a0food and other basics<\/a>\u00a0more expensive well beyond the region.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and Iran traded strikes for a second straight day Thursday after reaching a tenuous ceasefire more than a month ago. While the strikes have increased tensions in the region, they have been more limited compared to the early weeks of the war and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are ongoing.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s threats on Thursday, while stark, represented his latest verbal escalation in the Iran war. In April, he warned Iran that \u201ca whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again\u201d if it didn\u2019t agree to his terms, before extending a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Trump weighs trying to seize Iran\u2019s main oil terminal<\/p>\n

Kharg Island \u2014 located on the other side of the Persian Gulf from U.S. bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia \u2014 is the beating heart of\u00a0Iran\u2019s oil industry<\/a>, through which 90% of its exports pass. It is important because Iran\u2019s coastline is mostly too shallow for tanker ships to dock.<\/p>\n

It was unclear how serious Trump was about his threat to seize it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy preference has always been to take Kharg Island,\u201d Trump said in an interview Thursday on Fox News. \u201cI don\u2019t know that America has the stomach for it to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

American troops would be vulnerable on Kharg Island because of its proximity \u2014 about 33 kilometers (21 miles) \u2014 to the Iranian mainland, from which missiles, drones and artillery could be fired.<\/p>\n

Trump indicated in the interview that he remains averse to sending U.S. forces into Iran. \u201cWe could walk in there tomorrow. We could take soldiers \u2014 I don\u2019t want to have boots on the ground. But if I wanted to we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump compared his threat to take over Iran\u2019s oil industry to how the U.S. assumed control of Venezuela\u2019s oil sector after capturing then-president\u00a0Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>\u00a0in January.<\/p>\n

Iran says US attacks have made ceasefire `meaningless\u2019<\/p>\n

Back-and-forth strikes rattled the Middle East for the third time this week. The first involved\u00a0attacks between Iran and Israel<\/a>, followed by the two rounds of fire between the U.S. and Iran, which targeted countries were U.S. troops are based.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military\u2019s Central Command said airstrikes ending early Thursday targeted \u201cIranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explosions echoed around Iran\u2019s capital, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said sites hit included a manufacturing complex, a military barracks and a local Guard base outside of Tehran.<\/p>\n

Tehran said it fired back at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.<\/p>\n

Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours but did not report any damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired toward an area with a base hosting U.S. troops, though no one was hurt.<\/p>\n

Bahrain\u2019s Interior Ministry said an 11-year-old girl was hurt and cars and homes were damaged by debris from intercepted Iranian strikes.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. attacks had \u201ceffectively rendered the ceasefire \u2026 meaningless,\u201d without saying it was abandoning it.<\/p>\n

Tensions persist over Iran\u2019s nuclear program, Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. would extract funds from frozen Iranian accounts to offset the costs of damage to American allies as well as any tolls Iran imposes on ships seeking passage through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beyond the deadlock over the strait, the two sides also remain at odds over Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful. The U.S. and Israel fear Tehran\u2019s stockpile of highly enriched uranium could be used to build an atomic weapon. That was a main reason they cited for going to war Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting in Lebanon between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears\u00a0intent on pursuing his goal<\/a>\u00a0of destroying the militant group.<\/p>\n

Iranian student says hope dwindles as attacks escalate<\/p>\n

A 25-year-old student in northern Iran says Iranians are fearing \u201cchaos\u201d amid the war with the U.S. and Israel and multiplying crises at home.<\/p>\n

The student, who lives in the city of Babol, said many Iranians are struggling to afford groceries in the face of mass job losses and triple-digit food inflation. He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of security fears.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is going wrong and there is no hope among the people,\u201d the student added.<\/p>\n

The student first spoke to The Associated Press before the war when he participated in widespread anti-government protests. He now says his chief concern is that Iran \u201cmaintain territorial integrity and deterrence\u201d in the face of attacks by the U.S. and Israel.<\/p>\n

US fires on another merchant ship to enforce blockade<\/p>\n

The U.S. military\u2019s Central Command said Thursday that it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. It said the M\/T Jalveer was transporting Iranian oil when it was disabled late Wednesday after its crew failed to obey U.S. orders.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it disabled to enforce the blockade.<\/p>\n

Three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the Palau-flagged M\/T Settebello on Tuesday, India\u2019s minister overseeing ports and shipping said Thursday on X.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before firing on the ship, which it accused of trying to evade the blockade.<\/p>\n

The leader of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, condemned the attack.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to launch major strikes on Iran and seize control of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[102,34,13005,1937,6475,196,101,309],"class_list":["post-156275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-strait-of-hormuz","tag-hormuz","tag-iran","tag-iran-missile-attack","tag-iran-missile-strikes","tag-iran-sanctions","tag-iran-war","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-trump-administration"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116733428764318175","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}