The US will seize Iranian energy assets in "the not too distant future", Donald Trump says. -AP
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 says.
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"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 comes after the US and Iran traded strikes for a second day, which has been the most serious threat to a fragile ceasefire agreed in April, dampening hopes for a swift end to the war that started in late February with massive US-Israeli joint air strikes on Iran.
The escalation in hostilities began with Monday's downing of a US Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, which sparked a series of tit-for-tat attacks across Iran and on US bases around the region.
The US military said its latest attacks on Thursday targeted "military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defence sites across Iran" in response to what it called Tehran's "unwarranted and continued aggression".
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched counterattacks on 18 US military targets at air bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
It later said it had also targeted the al-Azraq air base in Jordan for a second night running.
