{"id":204171,"date":"2026-03-15T13:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T13:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/the-us-struck-kharg-island-in-iran-heres-what-to-know-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T13:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T13:24:20","slug":"the-us-struck-kharg-island-in-iran-heres-what-to-know-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/the-us-struck-kharg-island-in-iran-heres-what-to-know-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"The US struck Kharg Island in Iran. Here's what to know – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

United\u00a0States\u00a0forces struck targets on Kharg Island<\/a>,\u00a0an area\u00a0vital\u00a0to\u00a0Iran\u2019s oil industry,\u00a0as President Donald Trump<\/a> presses\u00a0Iranian leaders to\u00a0allow for passage through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0
The overnight strikes did not\u00a0impact\u00a0the islands\u00a0oil infrastructure, U.S. and Iranian officials said.\u00a0But\u00a0Trump\u00a0issued an ultimatum after the attack\u00a0saying he would consider\u00a0additional\u00a0actions if Iran continued to block\u00a0commercial\u00a0ships\u00a0from freely\u00a0moving through\u00a0the\u00a0shipping route.\u00a0
The\u00a0Strait of Hormuz is key to global trade, where about one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil passes.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0become a\u00a0major\u00a0flashpoint in the\u00a0war.\u00a0\u00a0
“The United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle\u00a0East, and\u00a0totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran\u2019s crown jewel, Kharg Island,” Trump said in a statement Friday evening,\u00a0after the attack.\u00a0
“I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”\u00a0
Iran warned of retaliation<\/a>\u00a0against oil companies working with the United States in the Middle East, should its\u00a0oil and energy infrastructure be hit.\u00a0\u00a0
Kharg Island\u00a0lies about 15 miles off\u00a0the\u00a0coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf\u00a0and is critical to the nation\u2019s economy. Iran\u2019s energy industry depends on the landmass.\u00a0
It\u2019s\u00a0where about\u00a090% of\u00a0Iran\u2019s crude oil exports are processed\u00a0and millions of barrels of oil are also stored. Pipelines from some of Iran\u2019s biggest oil fields connect to Kharg.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
The island is also vital to the global energy market. Iran produces\u00a0more than\u00a03 million barrels of oil a\u00a0day, and\u00a0is among the top 10 oil producers in the world.\u00a0\u00a0
Prior to the attack,\u00a0Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid\u00a0said\u00a0destroying\u00a0infrastructure on\u00a0Kharg\u00a0island\u00a0would \u201ccripple Iran’s economy and topple the regime.\u201d\u00a0
United States Central Command said it hit\u00a0\u201cmore than 90 Iranian military targets\u201d in the overnight\u00a0strikes, but\u00a0preserved the islands oil infrastructure.\u00a0\u00a0
It posted a video\u00a0of the \u201clarge-scale precision strike\u201d\u00a0showing\u00a0bombings of\u00a0air defenses, a naval base, an airport control\u00a0tower\u00a0and a helicopter hangar.\u00a0
Iranian media reported more than 15 explosions on the island.\u00a0\u00a0
The Kharg Island attacks were\u00a0designed to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0Iran has effectively blocked passage through the shipping channel during ongoing fighting, and Trump has vowed to\u00a0restart regular\u00a0shipments\u00a0along\u00a0the waterway.\u00a0\u00a0
Trump on Friday, March 13 announced plans to send naval escorts to help commercial ships navigate through the region.\u00a0Hours after the attacks on Saturday, March 14, Trump said\u00a0countries would join the United States in sending warships to open the Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0
Iran\u00a0has\u00a0threatened to attack U.S. oil interests in the region if its energy infrastructure is damaged in future attacks.\u00a0\u00a0
Reuters contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United\u00a0States\u00a0forces struck targets on Kharg Island,\u00a0an area\u00a0vital\u00a0to\u00a0Iran\u2019s oil industry,\u00a0as President Donald Trump presses\u00a0Iranian leaders to\u00a0allow for passage through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0The overnight strikes did not\u00a0impact\u00a0the islands\u00a0oil infrastructure, U.S. and Iranian officials said.\u00a0But\u00a0Trump\u00a0issued an ultimatum after the attack\u00a0saying he would consider\u00a0additional\u00a0actions if Iran continued to block\u00a0commercial\u00a0ships\u00a0from freely\u00a0moving through\u00a0the\u00a0shipping route.\u00a0The\u00a0Strait of Hormuz is key to global trade, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}