United States President Donald Trump struck Iran’s most strategically sensitive oil infrastructure and moved to revive offshore production in California on the same day, as the three-week-old war with Iran pushed global crude prices above $100 a barrel and created the largest oil supply disruption in recorded market history.
US forces carried out large-scale strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export terminal, on Friday night. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the operation destroyed more than 90 military targets, including naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers, while preserving the island’s oil infrastructure.
Located about 15 miles off Iran’s northern Gulf coast, Kharg Island handles roughly 85 to 95 percent of the country’s crude oil exports and generates an estimated $78 billion annually in energy revenue. Trump announced the strikes in a social media post, saying he had chosen not to destroy the island’s oil facilities for now, but warned that Iran’s continued interference with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz could change that calculation.
Speaking on Saturday, Trump told NBC News the strikes had “totally demolished” much of the island and warned of further attacks. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded that Tehran would retaliate against any energy infrastructure linked to the United States across the region if its own oil facilities were struck.
Iran issued warnings for civilians to evacuate three major ports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which it described as legitimate targets. A drone attack on the Fujairah oil industry zone, one of the Gulf’s largest ship-refuelling hubs, triggered a fire when debris fell during an air defence interception. The UAE denied that the Kharg Island strikes had originated from its territory.
On the supply side, Trump signed an executive order that same day directing Energy Secretary Chris Wright to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to restart offshore oil operations off the California coast. Wright directed Sable Offshore Corp. to restore operations at its Santa Ynez unit off Santa Barbara, a facility capable of producing around 50,000 barrels of oil per day that would replace roughly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude imports per month.
California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the move, calling it an attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators face criminal charges and are prohibited from restarting operations by multiple court orders. Legal challenges are expected to follow.
Brent crude oil futures closed above $100 per barrel for the second consecutive day on Friday, having surged more than 40 percent since the war began on February 28. Analysts say the California volume, while meaningful domestically, is too small to offset the disruption caused by the near-shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supply ordinarily moves.
Trump has separately called on other countries to send warships to help secure the strait, writing that China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom are among the nations affected and should contribute to restoring safe passage.
The war has now killed more than 2,000 people, the majority in Iran, and has triggered a cascade of global economic consequences that show no sign of easing while the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to normal tanker traffic.
