US President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post on Sunday that Iran’s energy hub on Kharg Island was being destroyed. He accompanied the post with a video showing dramatic explosions, but Reuters found that the footage was most likely synthetically generated.

Iran rejected the claim. Hamid Bovard, head of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, dismissed Trump’s post as laughable and said conditions on Kharg were calm. Oil operations had not been interrupted, while workers were repairing earlier damage and modernizing facilities. Before the war, the island handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports.

The claim came as fighting between the US and Iran resumed for the first time since July, with US forces striking Iranian launchers on Larak Island and Tehran retaliating against US bases in Jordan.

Washington is also stepping up economic pressure. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters that new secondary sanctions were likely to be announced every week, initially focusing on banks holding Iranian money or aiding the regime. He said Washington could ultimately cut institutions off entirely from the dollar-based financial system.

(Reuters, max)