Iranian tanker hit by US attack near Iran’s Kharg Island: report

An Iranian tanker was hit by four US missiles near the anchorage off Kharg Island, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. The agency cited a correspondent at Kharg and local sources, who said there were no casualties and that the tanker’s crew was being evacuated.

Iranian authorities had not immediately issued an official announcement, and US Central Command had not immediately responded to a request for comment. The report came after US President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Aug. 31, accompanied by an AI-generated video, that Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens.” Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if the island is attacked.

Kharg Island is Iran’s main oil export hub. Before the war, Iran exported 90 percent of its crude through the island, but those flows have been disrupted since a US blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.

The reported attack follows months of escalating pressure around the island. Trump said on June 11 that he wanted to take over Kharg Island, then said a threatened US military operation there was off the table for the time being. That came days before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement on June 17 aimed at ending the war.

A strike on Kharg would put additional pressure on Iran’s oil industry and wider economy, already strained by the naval blockade. The United States imposed the blockade after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.

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blown to smithereens