Name: Trump says Iran's Kharg Island bombed; US deploying up to 2,500 to Mideast
Uploaded: 2026-03-14T16:41:00.000Z
Duration: 9 min 14 s
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Just minutes ago, the president saying the U.S.

military, quote, totally obliterated every military target in Iran's crown jewel, Kharg Island.

The president just speaking, what did he say?

Well, before we get to what he said, I do want to go into this breaking news because moments after he spoke, he talked about Carg Island.

I mean, 90% of Iran's oil exports go through Kharg Island.

There have been questions as to why the United States or Israel had not bombed Carg island, particularly given its economic strength for Iran.

It is a place, it is kind of a sensitive area, and

it's clearly something that the US could have targeted.

President Trump had been asked questions about this.

He kind of evaded the answer earlier today.

Because there is so much oil infrastructure in this area, he specifically says, I have chosen not to wipe out the oil infrastructure on the island.

However, should Iran or anyone else do anything to interfere with the free and safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.

There is a reason why this is so important.

Earlier today, I was talking to White House officials.

They said there was going to be actions as early as this weekend, as early as this evening that were going to show how the US Was working towards trying to get these ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Getting the Strait of Hormuz opened again, that is clearly what they were referring to, was these explosions in Carg Island, a place that had seemed like it was going to be off limits.

Clearly here he is saying, open up the Strait of Hormuz or else you're going to see more bombs dropping and more strikes in the area.

Now, we did also hear from President Trump just seconds before he sent that true social post saying that those Navy escorts were going to start happening soon.

I was told by White House officials they were going to have to clear that area.

They have to make sure it was safe for the military.

They were going have to get the resources there.

And one of the more interesting things we heard him say is that he has officially taken any sort of timeline off the table.

He was asked specifically about his four to five weeks comments, and

he said that he couldn't give a timeline anymore.

So I know that we had been reporting that the administration had been saying this, but

this is, you know, Donald Trump here officially saying that that four to five week timeline is off the table and instead replacing it with a big question mark.

Talk to us about the significance of this moment and that threat too that Kristen told us about of the President basically saying, hey, I left a little bit in terms of oil infrastructure, but

if you don't do what I say, we will come back.

So, Erica, Carg island, you see it on the map there.

It's about 25 miles off the coast of Iran, very northern part of the Gulf.

And of course, they are almost wholly dependent on their oil economy for their own government revenues.

In Carg island, that small island there, it's about 8 by 9 square miles.

It has the deepwater ports where tankers can pull in, get filled up, and

then go through the Strait of Hormuz and onward to where they might delivering their oil.

that is basically without those terminals and without that island being operational, Iran cannot export its oil.

I take this as the US Saying, ok, you guys are trying to use this pressure point which the new supreme leader declared it yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz.

We have, we have pressure points too on you.

But I also see, Erica, with the deployment of U.S.

marine Force, the possibility of more military operations on that island, I think that's highly risky.

But clearly, bottom line, this conflict is not coming to an end anytime soon.

It was a four to six, four to six weeks was said at the beginning.

I think it might go on a little bit longer than that.

And the president, as Christine was just reporting, taking that off the table.

When we look at, when we look at this moment and the Carg island piece of it now that is being brought in, I mean, Rhett walked us through the significance of this, but

the fact that as he pointed out, we have potentially this unit of 20, up to 2500 marines and sailors going in.

They are also well versed in combat operations.

With all of this playing out tonight, is that how you would envision perhaps these forces being used is perhaps needing to go to Kharg Island?

But I'd be reluctant to put boots on the ground in this area for a number of reasons.

The Iranians can come down and they can block the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz is a particularly unpleasant place to operate in any time of the year, particularly at night.

Having been there during the Iranian hostage crisis on a nuclear aircraft carrier, it's a problem.

And you know, boots on the ground, I've been through this number of wars, served with a bunch of people who spent a fair amount of time in Hanoi as visitors under very unpleasant circumstances and were great heroes.

But if we start putting boots on the ground, how do we ensure that they're protected?

How do we ensure that they get out if we have to?

I see that raises a lot of red flags for you.

And when we look at where things stand, Nazeel, this moment, can you put in perspective to us, you know, Brett laid out how significant it is from a military perspective, but

Nazeelah, lay out for us what this actually means to Iran?

Well, yeah, I think this is entering the war to a different level.

This is going to be a new chapter in this war.

Khark island is the main point where Iran is exporting its oil.

And if they can't export oil or if they lose control over the island, it's going to hurt the Revolutionary Guards Corp in a major way.

And I think considering what happened today inside the country and the statements that we were hearing from Iranian officials, they are trying to deflect attention from such realities.

Today Tehran came under quite intense bombing.

There was a bombing right in middle of the demonstrations where some of the leaders showed up.

And all we heard from them was that Iranian leaders are there among their own people.

While the bombs were dropping, the country's infrastructure is getting destroyed.

People are, the ordinary Iranians are the ones who are paying the big price for this.

But the reality is that the country's oil flow is under question if depending on how much Hark island has been damaged.

And then the big question about power vacuum, the statement that came out yesterday has raised more questions than given answers.

There are questions about the Supreme Leader's, the new Supreme Leader's whereabouts, his condition, and

why didn't he deliver the speech himself and why didn't he have someone he could trust who could deliver it?

So these are really big questions and I'm afraid we are entering a totally different chapter now in terms of this totally different chapter, you know, as you were just saying, this signifies to you far beyond four to six weeks.

And the president saying basically taking the timeline off the table, how important are the next is this weekend, I would even say these next couple of days.

What is that going to tell us in terms of the trajectory here?

I think I've been saying since the beginning that, you know, the military plan is about four to six weeks.

There was some thought earlier this week that given the economic pressure, perhaps President Trump would just declare victory and cut it short.

I now think the way this is developing, that's actually not going to happen.

And look, Iran, Iran decided to play this card of the Strait of Hormuz, and

the Supreme Leader said we will use it as a pressure card, pressure valve.

And that is going back all the way to the Carter Doctrine.

We have a doctrine that outside powers or other powers, including Iran, cannot seize this territory.