Kharg Island Attack: Iran’s Significant Oil Base Hit By Multiple Explosions As West Asia Conflict Escalates Ahead of Trump’s Strait of Hormuz Deadline

IRAN-US WAR: Iran’s strategic oil base, Kharg Island, was attacked in multiple bombings just a day after Iran had turned down yet another cease-fire proposal from the US government to bring an end to the months-long war, as reported by Mehr News Agency, a semi-official news channel of Iran. 

This comes after US President Trump’s ultimatum to Iran. President Trump’s own deadline for Iran to restore the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz expires Tuesday evening (8 pm Eastern Time).

Kharg Island Attack

With less than a day left before the end of Trump’s self-imposed deadline for Iran to restore traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the President said, “every bridge in Iran will be blown up to smithereens.”

He also threatened to hit targets such as Iran’s nuclear facilities and power plants and said there would be attacks every four hours, and no change in the deadline was likely.

With less than a day left for the end of President Trump’s self-imposed deadline, Iran has reacted defiantly by declaring that “the arrogant rhetoric and threats” of Trump “will not affect our Islamic crushing operations against Americans and Zionists.”

Tehran explosions, bombs in Kurdistan

There have been new explosions in some parts of Tehran and in the nearby city of Karaj, while, as per reports from AFP, two explosions were also heard in the vicinity of Erbil airport in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.

Israel says it has concluded a series of airstrikes against targets in Iran and says that its air defence systems had been triggered after Iranian missiles were launched at them.

Oil prices increase, markets crash

The price of Brent crude oil increased by 0.5 percent to $110 per barrel. US futures in S&P 500 Index fell by 0.2 percent early Tuesday morning as Trump warned about further escalation of the ongoing war between the two nations.

The US military is ready to bomb “all bridges in Iran before 12 o’ clock tomorrow night.”

Why is Kharg Island significant for Iran? 

Kharg Island is a tiny rock formation only 15 nautical miles (24km) from the coast of Iran. Almost all of Iran’s crude oil passes through the terminal situated on the island via pipeline connections from the mainland.

Trump has singled out the possibility of attacking these pipelines, but noted that he had refrained from doing so thus far to prevent prolonged harm to the Iranian economy.

“It can be done in five minutes, and we will finish up very quickly, just one word and the pipelines go down as well. But it takes a long time to rebuild that,” Trump said in an interview on 16 March.

Trump: ‘Maybe we take Kharg Island’

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have lots of choices,” Trump told the Financial Times in an interview.

“But if we did that, it would mean we had to be there [on Kharg Island] for some time. . . . They have no defence there at all. It would be very easy for us to get there.”

ALSO READ: Who Is Abu Azrael AKA ‘Angel of Death’? Rumours Of Controversial Iraqi Militia Figure’s Arrival In Tehran Surface Online, Will He Join Hands With IRGC Against The US?