Iran vows retaliation for U.S. attack on Kharg Island oil hub as war enters 3rd week

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Iran warned it could target U.S. "hideouts" in the United Arab Emirates as a major U.A.E. energy hub suffered disruption after a drone attack on Saturday, and U.S. President Donald Trump said "many countries" would send warships to ‌the region.

As the war — which began with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran — entered its third week, Tehran projected defiance after U.S. forces hit military sites at its own main oil hub, warning that parts of the U.A.E. were a legitimate target and urging civilians to evacuate.

American forces executed a large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island in Iran on Friday night, the U.S. Central Command said on Saturday.

The strike destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers and multiple other military sites while preserving the oil infrastructure, the U.S. military said in a post on social media platform X.

Trump had threatened on Friday to strike the oil infrastructure on Kharg Island unless Tehran stopped attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran, however, played down the extent of the damage while threatening to step up ‌its use of more powerful weapons and warning that parts of the U.A.E. were a legitimate target.

"We declare to the leaders of the U.A.E. that Iran considers it a legitimate right to defend its national sovereignty and territory by targeting the origin of American enemy missile launches in the shipping ports, docks, and military shelters of the U.S. hidden in some cities of the U.A.E.," a spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.

In a statement, the IRGC urged residents in the U.A.E. to evacuate ports, docks and U.S. military shelters to avoid civilian casualties.

Nine ballistic missiles and 33 drones were launched from Iran toward the U.A.E. on Saturday, the Ministry of Defence said, bringing a total of 294 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,600 drones launched from Iran since the war started.

The war has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in Iran, and created the biggest oil supply disruption in history — pushing prices sharply higher as maritime traffic has halted in a region that delivers a fifth of the world's oil.

Behind the scenes, resentment had already been mounting in Gulf Arab capitals at being drawn into a war they neither initiated nor endorsed but are now paying for economically and militarily, regional sources have told Reuters.

Regional fallout has also affected motorsports, with Formula 1 announcing on Sunday that the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 12 and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on April 19 will be cancelled on safety grounds.

European countries have also been increasingly implicated in the war, even as a former NATO chief said he doesn't believe allies will be pulled into the conflict further.