Iran-US war latest: Trump says strikes have ‘obliterated’ military targets on vital oil hub island

The US has ordered non-emergency government workers and families of government workers to leave Oman due to “safety risks”.

Oman is one of several Gulf countries Iran has attacked amid the growing conflict in the Middle East, according to the United Nations.

Five US Air Force refueling planes were struck while on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia by an Iranian missile in recent days, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday night, citing US officials.

There were no casualties, and damage to the planes is being repaired, per the WSJ.

Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed 14 medical workers and injured six more, the country’s health ministry said early Saturday local time, per The New York Times.

The health ministry said the workers were affiliated with either Hezbollah’s social services network or with the Shia Amal Movement, the NYT reported.

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three Palestinians, including two 17-year-olds, Palestinian medics said on Friday, with violence continuing in the West Bank and Gaza even as Israel expands its offensive across the region.

Israel has used lethal force in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces killed two in the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday, according to Palestinian officials, while the death toll in Lebanon reached 773, its Health Ministry said on Friday.

After nearly two weeks of war, 2,000 people have been killed, most of them in Iran, with several million people displaced from their homes.

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday night local time that Iran is “DEAD” as the conflict in the Middle East has dragged on for nearly two weeks.

“Iran had plans of taking over the entire Middle East, and completely obliterating Israel. JUST LIKE IRAN ITSELF, THOSE PLANS ARE NOW DEAD”, Trump said.

Trump’s social media post came after he announced the US military “totally obliterated” Kharg Island, Iran’s vital oil export port.

Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded and may be disfigured, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday.

In the remarks, Hegseth questioned Khamenei’s ability to govern after nearly two weeks of US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

No images have been released of Khamenei since an Israeli strike at the start of the war that killed much of his family, including his father and wife.

The supreme leader’s first comments came in a statement read by a television presenter on Thursday. In the statement, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and called on neighboring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.

“We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured. He put out a statement yesterday. A weak one, actually, but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement,” Hegseth told a briefing.

“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father – dead. He’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy.”

Donald Trump says the US has carried out one of the most ferocious bombing attacks on all time, on Iran’s Kharg Island.

The island is the linchpin of Iran’s oil industry, a dominant export port which is connected by pipeline to the major oil fields in southwest Iran.

It is also one of the only places on Iran;s western coast that can accomodate supertankers due to the depth of the water.

Iran has centralised much of its exports from Kharg Island over several decades, significantly reducing its costs.

While Iran’s reliance on a single oil terminal appeared to be a major vulnerability, it had also led to it being deemed untouchable because of the potential impact on the global oil economy if it came under attack.

Under the current US administration, and its vicious war on Iran, this has all changed.

Some analysts have even predicted that oil prices could soar to US$150 (£112) a barrel if Kharg is hit, a move that could shatter any remaining confidence in the financial markets that Trump can achieve his war aims without significant and long-term disruption to the global economy.

A top UN humanitarian official warned on Friday that closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route in the Middle East, could have “immense impact” on humanitarian operations amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

“When ships stop moving through that Strait, the consequences travel fast,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

“Food, medicine, fertilizer and other supplies become harder to move and more expensive to deliver.”