Iran has threatened to destroy oil and energy facilities in the region that cooperate with, or are partly owned by, the US if Iran’s energy facilities are hit, local media has reported.
“All oil, economic, and energy facilities belonging to oil companies in the region that are partly owned by the United States or that cooperate with the United States will be immediately destroyed and reduced to ashes” if Iran’s energy assets are attacked, the Iranian Fars News Agency reported the military’s Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters has said.
The warning came after US President Donald Trump confirmed the American military had bombed the critical Iranian base of Kharg Island. Trump said the US had not targeted the island’s oil infrastructure.
However, he warned he would reconsider this if “Iran, or anyone else, [should] do anything to interfere with the free and safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz”.
The island is economically and strategically important for Iran, Australian National University Expert Amin Saikal told the ABC earlier today.
“Something like 80 to 90 per cent of Iranian crude oil is exported from that island to the outside world,” Saikal said.
