US President Donald Trump late Sunday shared an AI-generated video of the imagined destruction of Iran's Kharg Island, saying that strategic oil hub is "being blown to smithereens."
"Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Earlier Sunday, US forces struck two Iranian launchers on an entirely separate isle, Larak Island, marking the first US strikes on Iranian territory since late July, a US official told Axios.
The operation targeted systems that were allegedly being prepared to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said several fighters and civilians were killed or injured in the strike and vowed to respond.
Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that preliminary information indicated the attack was carried out by drones.
Kharg Island, a vital center for Iran's oil industry and exports, has been inactive since July 31, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler and consultancy Energy Aspects.
Satellite imagery showed that all three loading berths at Kharg had remained vacant for an extended period, according to maritime intelligence company Windward.
The island normally handles nearly 90% of Iran's crude exports due to its deep-water access for large oil tankers.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have remained high since the war began with strikes on Iran in late February.
Although a framework agreement was reached in June through Pakistani and Qatari mediation, the US reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports in mid-July after an interim agreement, mediated by Pakistan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, collapsed.
