Iran’s Fars news agency, citing sources on Kharg Island, a crucial hub for Tehran, said there had been no damage to oil facilities after US President Donald Trump said US strikes had destroyed only military targets there.
According to Fars, the US operation “tried to damage the army’s defences, the Joshan naval base, the airport control tower and the helicopter hangar of the Iran Continental Shelf Oil Company.”
Kharg Island, a scrubby stretch of land in the northern Gulf around 30 kilometres off the Iranian mainland, handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports.
Trump said US forces had “totally obliterated” all military targets on the island, describing it in a social media post as “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East.”
The US leader said he had chosen not to “wipe out” oil infrastructure on the Iranian island, for now.
“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,” he said.
Iran has, in turn, threatened to target US-linked oil infrastructure. The Iranian military said that oil and energy infrastructure owned by US-linked firms would be “immediately be destroyed and turned into a pile of ashes” if the United States struck its oil facilities, according to Iranian media.
Trump said the US Navy would start escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz “very soon” to restore oil exports.
Missile strikes inside US Embassy compound in Baghdad
Waves of drone, missile and aerial bombing have displaced millions in the region and reportedly killed more than 1,200 people in Iran since the United States and Israel opened hostilities on 28 February.
Despite facing superior US and Israeli firepower, Iran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks against at least 10 countries.
A missile struck a helipad inside the US Embassy compound in Baghdad early on Saturday, two Iraqi security officials said.
Footage showed a column of smoke rising over the embassy compound, one of the largest US diplomatic facilities in the world, which has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.
There was no immediate comment from the embassy. On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against US citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”
Qatar’s interior ministry said Saturday that it was evacuating a number of “key areas” as Iran presses its retaliatory air campaign against Gulf countries. It said it intercepted two missiles after blasts were heard in the capital Doha.
In Doha’s central Musheireb district some residents received phone alerts telling them to “evacuate the area immediately… to the nearest safest place as a temporary precaution”.
Iran and Israel trade more strikes
Heavy blasts shook Tehran late Friday after the United States vowed to step up air strikes.
The Israeli army told people in an industrial zone in the west of Iran’s northern city of Tabriz to leave ahead of military operations on Saturday.
“Urgent warning to all people located in the industrial area west of Tabriz,” the Israeli military posted on X, adding it would “continue to operate in the area in the coming hours”.
Iran also launched a fresh round of missiles towards Israel, state media reported, but Israeli rescue workers said there were no reported casualties following the strikes.
Israel’s military said it had identified missiles from Iran and “was operating to intercept the threat,” as air raid sirens in multiple areas sent people into shelters.
US and Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,200 people in Iran, according to health ministry figures that could not be independently verified.
The UN refugee agency has estimated that up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war started.
According to the Pentagon, the US and Israel have struck more than 15,000 targets in Iran over the past two weeks.
Israel’s military said it conducted 7,600 strikes on the country, most of them against its missile programme.