On Friday, President Donald Trump announced through Truth Social that the United States had just “obliterated every military target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.” The next day, he told NBC News that the military might hit the site “a few more times just for fun.” Like me, you might be appalled at this random escalation, but this emphasis on Kharg might be because he’s been eyeing Kharg Island as a potential target for nearly 40 years.
Per Newsweek, while promoting his book The Art of the Deal in the United Kingdom in 1988, Trump discussed U.S.-Iran relations after the 1979 Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis. Mulling hypothetical military actions, he told The Guardian at the time, “They’ve been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and I’d do a number on Kharg Island. I’d go in and take it.”
