Iran speaker warns ‘enemies are preparing to occupy’ island

TEHRAN: Iran’s powerful parliament speaker warned on Wednesday about the possible invasion of an Iranian island with the support of an unnamed regional country.

“Based on some intelligence reports, Iran’s enemies are preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands with support from one of the regional states,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote in an X post written in both Persian and Arabic.

“Our forces are monitoring all enemy movements, and if they take any step, all the vital infrastructure of that regional state will be targeted with relentless, unceasing attacks.” US President Donald Trump is moving thousands of airborne troops and extra marines to the Gulf amid speculation that he might order a ground invasion to either seize Iranian oil assets in the Gulf or secure the strategic Strait of Hormuz. One possible target is Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports.

Trump has called it a “little oil island that sits there, so totally unprotected”. Earlier on Wednesday, an unnamed Iranian military official told local media that Iran would target shipping in the Red Sea in the event of a ground invasion, which would dramatically widen the conflict and disrupt global trade.