Iran has publicly ridiculed Donald Trump after the president shared an AI-generated video purporting to show the destruction of the country’s main oil export hub.
Hamid Bovard, chief executive of Iran’s National Iranian Oil Co, dismissed the footage in a statement reported last week, calling the American leader’s online posts absurd while insisting operations at Kharg Island were proceeding normally. Bovard said: “Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate.”
The video Trump posted on Truth Social depicted what he presented as Kharg Island being “blown to smithereens,” according to the source material. The island serves as Iran’s primary oil export hub, making any actual strike there economically significant.
A US Defense Department official contradicted the president’s implication, stating American forces had not targeted Kharg Island at all. The official said the strikes were directed exclusively at positions belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Larak Island, a separate location.
The exchange marks a fresh flare-up in direct fighting between the two countries that began when Washington launched its first strikes against Iranian territory since late July. Iran responded with its own attacks against US military facilities in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
The IRGC said it fired ballistic missiles at the King Hussein and Al-Azraq airbases in Jordan. It also said dozens of attack drones were launched toward Al-Minhad Air Base in the UAE. Iran claimed these facilities were being used to support American operations against Iranian territory.
The widening confrontation has drawn neighboring countries into the hostilities, raising concerns about regional spillover as military sites beyond both nations’ borders become active targets.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has maintained that Tehran remains interested in pursuing a negotiated resolution despite the military exchanges. This leaves the situation oscillating between escalation and diplomacy while the two governments dispute basic facts about what has actually been struck.
The US has also rejected separate Iranian claims that a supertanker was hit by two mines in the Strait of Hormuz this week. An earlier statement from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said a supertanker caught fire and came to a complete halt after striking two naval mines in the shipping route.