Trump vows to take Iran oil terminals, launch new strikes

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed fresh strikes on Iran on June 11 and promised to take the country's key oil infrastructure, in what would be a major escalation in the war with the Islamic republic.

"The United States will be hitting Iran... VERY HARD TONIGHT," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela," he added.

Trump gave no details of how the United States would seize Iran's oil terminals, but any such operation would almost certainly require the involvement of U.S. ground troops.

He talked about a possible seizure of Kharg Island earlier.

Kharg Island is at the heart of Iran's oil export industry, a lynchpin of the country's battered economy. It sits off Iran's Gulf coast, hundreds of kilometres northwest of the narrow, strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The United States says it has taken control of Venezuela's oil industry since toppling and seizing its president Nicolas Maduro in January.

Iran warned on June 11 that the shaky ceasefire in the three-month Middle East war was now “practically meaningless” following fresh strikes by the United States that saw Tehran respond with attacks around the region.

The war, which began on Feb. 28 with a wave of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, was paused by the April truce, but efforts to hammer out a permanent end to the fighting have stalled, and sporadic exchanges of fire have put the ceasefire under repeated strain.

In their second straight day of tit-for-tat attacks, Washington hit surveillance, communications and air defense facilities, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a “punitive operation” targeting a US base in Jordan and Gulf states reported incoming fire.

Mediators Pakistan and Qatar suggested backchannel efforts to negotiate an end to the war were ongoing in spite of the flare-up, though Islamabad cautioned it was “hard to be an optimist” in light of the latest escalation.

The strikes took place while a Qatari delegation was in Tehran, with a diplomatic source saying the discussions were “conducted in coordination with the United States.”

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly maintained negotiations with Tehran were close to a deal, said on June 10 that Iran keeps “playing us for suckers” and will now “have to pay the price.”

The renewed hostilities came as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that if Trump required it, “we’ll negotiate with bombs.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on June 11 that “the illegal and criminal attacks perpetrated by the United States in recent hours not only constitute a flagrant violation... but also render the ceasefire practically meaningless.”

Mediators, however, were keeping up diplomatic efforts, with a team of Qatari negotiators departing Tehran following talks “that lasted into the early hours of this morning,” the diplomat said.