The United States will hit Iran "very hard tonight" and will soon take control of the Middle Eastern country's oil and gas infrastructure and markets, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday.
"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela," Trump said on Truth Social.
The post come after the US and Iran traded strikes for a second day, pushing the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war. The American attack, which lasted into Thursday morning in Iran, appeared more intense and wider than the day before.
"We are talking to them and all, but you know, look, my preference has always been - take Kharg Island ... my preference would be that. I don't know that America has the stomach for it," Trump said in an interview on Fox News.
"There will be more bombing tonight. It will be bigger - bigger, more powerful," he said on the "Fox & Friends" program.
Despite plans for more strikes, Trump said the US is still talking with Iran to reach a deal.
Iran released little information on the extent of the damage and said it fired back at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, as it had a day before.
The US military continued to enforce its blockade of Iranian ports, saying Thursday it fired missiles to disable a tanker attempting to transport Iranian oil.
The White House did not immediately respond to a question on whether the ceasefire agreed in April remains in place.
Iranian sources and Western officials said indirect US-Iranian talks on a preliminary peace deal had intensified.
Trump expressed frustration with media coverage of the Iran war as well as Iran's incalcitrance.
"The whole thing is crazy," Trump said. "They're really in submission. They just don't know it yet."
The war has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and pushed up global oil prices since the U.S. and Israel launched heavy air strikes on Iran on February 28.
US strikes Iran and Iran fires back at Gulf states
Central Command said its latest round of airstrikes came "in response to Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression" and targeted "Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defence sites." It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes, which it said ended just before sunrise Thursday in Iran.
Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran's capital, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said sites hit included a manufacturing complex, a military barracks and a local Guard base outside of Tehran.
Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours because of the attack, but did not elaborate on any damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired toward an area that is home to a base hosting US troops, though no one was hurt.
Bahrain's Interior Ministry said an 11-year-old girl was hurt and cars and homes were damaged by debris from interceptions responding to the Iranian attack.
Meanwhile, Israel warned residents in the country's north to seek shelter after the detection of suspected incoming fire from Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group.
Trump says the US is sneaking oil through the Strait of Hormuz
Iran's ability to control the Strait of Hormuz has proved a strong bargaining chip since the narrow waterway's effective closure has severely disrupted the global economy.
Trump said Wednesday that the US military has undertaken a mission since last month to sneak oil shipments past Iran's forces in the strait, aided by the destruction of Iranian radar equipment.
Trump said as a result more than 100 million barrels of oil have evaded Iran's chokehold. There was no immediate confirmation of that figure, which equals roughly five days of oil shipments through the waterway before the war began.
But the seas remain dangerous for mariners.
The US military's Central Command said Thursday that it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade with a shipment of Iranian oil. It said Hellfire missiles were launched to disable the M/T Jalveer late Wednesday after the ship's crew failed to obey US orders.
It's the ninth merchant vessel the US military says it has disabled since imposing the blockade in mid-April in waters off Iran. Two of those ships came under US fire earlier this week.