WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has shared an AI-generated video on his Truth Social account depicting what appears to be a large-scale attack on Iran’s Kharg Island, a strategically important centre of the country’s oil export infrastructure.
The AI-generated video shows an aerial view of an oil storage facility and an oil tanker engulfed in a series of explosions. Trump shared the footage without indicating that it represented an actual military operation.
Following tonight’s round of reciprocal U.S.-Iran strikes, that saw the U.S. target two Iranian mine-laying MLRS systems and Iran target U.S. bases and infrastructure in Jordan, U.S. President Donald J. Trump posted a number of AI videos depicting Iran’s Kharg Island being… pic.twitter.com/49dmpP31zR
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 31, 2026
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” Trump wrote in the post accompanying the video. Kharg Island, situated in the Gulf, is one of Iran’s most important oil export terminals and has played a major role in the country’s crude oil shipments for decades.
Its strategic and economic significance has made the island a recurring focus of US military threats amid the continuing conflict with Iran. Trump has previously warned that Kharg Island could be seized or destroyed as Washington has sought to increase pressure on Tehran.
The island’s location also gives it significance beyond Iran’s oil industry, as the wider Gulf region includes vital maritime routes linked to global energy supplies and the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump reiterates nuclear warning
Separately, Trump has doubled down on his pledge to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, arguing that Tehran would have used such a weapon had it obtained one. “You cannot let them have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
Describing Iran’s leadership as “very violent, evil people”, Trump said allowing Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon would pose a serious threat to Israel and could eventually endanger the United States and Europe.
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He claimed that the wider Middle East could have faced catastrophic consequences if Iran had acquired such a capability, arguing that Israel could have been destroyed and that Washington or European countries might subsequently have come under threat.
Trump, who described Iran as a “failing nation”, also said he had been surprised when Tehran began attacking Gulf states during the conflict. “Everybody was shocked.
I was surprised,” he said, adding that he believed the attacks had ultimately cost Iran some of the regional support it had previously enjoyed.
Trump has repeatedly said that preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon remains a central objective of Washington’s policy towards Tehran as the conflict enters its sixth month. The US has combined military pressure with sanctions and measures aimed at limiting Iran’s access to international trade and financial networks.
