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Clouds of smoke, missiles rain: US shares video of attack on Iran's Kharg Island | Why the target matters
US says destroyed “naval mine storage sites, missile storage bunkers… more than 90 Iranian military targets… deliberately avoiding oil assets”
The Central Command of the United States military on Saturday released a video that it said showed its precision strikes carried out on Kharg Island, a key military and oil-infra asset of Iran.
The US said it targeted multiple Iranian military facilities but did not target oil-related infrastructure.
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According to CENTCOM, the overnight operation destroyed naval mine storage sites, missile storage bunkers and several other military installations, with US forces striking more than 90 Iranian military targets on the island while deliberately avoiding oil assets.
US partner Israel also said on Saturday that it carried out strikes on Iran’s main space research centre and a factory used to produce air defence systems in attacks across Tehran.
The Israel Defense Forces said the space centre housed laboratories used for developing military satellites for surveillance, intelligence gathering and fire direction across the Middle East (West Asia) region.
According to the IDF, the strikes were part of a broader campaign aimed at inflicting deeper damage on Iran’s core military infrastructure.
As for Kharg Island, it is Iran's most critical oil export terminal, located in the northern Persian Gulf. Roughly 90% of Iran's crude oil exports pass through Kharg Island, which has massive storage facilities and loading jetties capable of handling supertankers.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88), Iraq repeatedly struck Kharg in an attempt to strangle Iran's war economy. Iran managed to keep it partially operational.
In the ongoing US-Israel attacks on Iran, Kharg is among key oil-related assets, another being the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world's traded oil passes.
