U.S. President Donald Trump at Palm Beach International Airport, March 13, 2026, (Credit: Nathan Howard/Getty Images/AFP)
Exactly two weeks after the outbreak of war in the Middle East, President Donald Trump said Iran is “completely defeated,” while Tehran warned Saturday it would “reduce to ashes” energy infrastructure linked to the United States if its main oil hub were attacked.
“The fake news media hate reporting on the excellent results achieved by the American military against Iran, which is totally defeated and wants to reach a deal, but not a deal that I would accept!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, without providing further details.
Trump also said the United States had “carried out one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East and totally wiped out every MILITARY target in the jewel of Iran, Kharg Island.”
Located in the northern Gulf about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Iranian coast, Kharg Island hosts Iran’s largest crude oil export terminal. On Friday night, Trump said on Truth Social that U.S. forces had “completely destroyed” military targets on the island and warned that Washington would also destroy its oil infrastructure if Iran or others tried to obstruct shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
“All oil, economic and energy installations owned by oil companies in the region partially owned by the United States or that cooperate with the United States will be immediately destroyed and reduced to ashes,” a spokesman for Khatam al-Anbiya central command, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said in remarks carried by Iranian media.
The conflict, triggered by the Israeli-American offensive against Iran on Feb. 28, is disrupting global oil supplies. Prices have surged as Tehran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas shipments pass.
Trump also said the U.S. Navy would “very soon” begin escorting oil tankers through the strait. U.S. media reported Washington plans to send reinforcements to the region. The New York Times reported that about 2,500 additional Marines and three ships could be deployed, while The Wall Street Journal reported the USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship, based in Japan, could also be sent.
Missiles intercepted over Qatar
On the 15th day of the war, there are no signs of de-escalation.
Trump has said the United States will strike Iran “very hard over the next week,” while Israel continues its attacks. On Saturday morning, the Israeli military urged residents of certain neighborhoods in Tabriz, in northern Iran, to evacuate ahead of possible military operations.
Gulf countries remain potential targets of Iranian retaliation because of their economic ties with the United States and the presence of American bases.
Qatar said Saturday it intercepted two missiles after previously evacuating several areas. Early in the morning, interceptors were seen destroying projectiles over central Doha, and explosions were heard by AFP journalists.
In Oman, Washington ordered nonessential embassy staff and their families to leave the country.
US Embassy targeted in Iraq
The conflict is also spreading elsewhere in the region.
In Lebanon, at least 12 staff members of a health center in the south of the country were killed in an Israeli strike, according to the Health Ministry.
Hezbollah entered the conflict on March 2, firing missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who died on the first day of the Israeli-American offensive against Iran and has since been replaced by his son Mojtaba Khamenei.
Since then, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 773 people, including 103 children, and displaced over 800,000 people, according to the latest official Lebanese figures.
A headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has been deployed in south Lebanon since 1978, was also hit, according to the state news agency NNA. The Israeli military has not immediately confirmed the report, while the Nepalese army, which has troops serving with UNIFIL, said no one was injured and the source of the strike remained unclear.
In Iraq, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was targeted by a drone attack early Saturday, according to an Iraqi security official. A series of strikes also targeted a pro-Iran armed group before dawn, killing two people, security sources said.
