President Trump posted an AI-generated video of Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal being "blown to smithereens" on Truth Social hours after U.S. warplanes struck Iranian forces on a different island hundreds of miles away — the first American attacks on Iran in a month, and the latest sign this president will use every tool available, including artificial intelligence, to project power straight past the regime press and into the public square.
The video wasn't real. Kharg Island — which handles roughly 90 percent of Iran's oil exports, according to Al-Monitor — was not hit. Trump did not clarify the clip was AI-generated, the New York Post noted. Iran's National Iranian Oil Company chief Hamid Bovard called the post "laughable" and insisted conditions on Kharg were "calm and appropriate."
But the actual military action was no joke. U.S. Central Command confirmed that American forces struck two IRGC rocket launchers on Larak Island, roughly 400 miles east of Kharg, after IRGC forces were observed preparing to launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. "U.S. forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat," CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said. The strikes came after CENTCOM revealed it had quietly cleared most Iranian mines from the strait's international shipping routes.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters the posts were meant as a warning: "You guys are shooting at commercial shipping. You guys are behaving like a terrorist country. You've got to stop, but there are going to be some consequences."
Iran retaliated, firing ballistic missiles and drones at U.S. positions in Jordan and the UAE. Most were intercepted; no damage was reported. Iran claimed it also struck the UAE's Al Minhad Air Base — the UAE defense ministry denied it. Iran's state media claimed a supertanker struck one of its own mines and caught fire; CENTCOM called that "yet another IRGC attempt to intimidate regional commercial shipping through disinformation."
Follow the Money
Brent crude briefly surged above $90 a barrel on the hostilities, the Post reported. Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced seven-year deals with Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics to triple Patriot interceptor production and quadruple THAAD output — defense contractors locking in long-term revenue while American troops bear the strain. The Army also extended the 82nd Airborne's Middle East deployment to a full year, citing "operational requirements."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised weekly sanctions rollouts targeting banks that do business with Iran. "We're starting with the banks, and we're telling the banks it's not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime," Bessent told Reuters.
Trump halted strikes on August 1 at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, Breitbart reported — giving diplomacy another chance. That pause is now over. The question neither the White House nor the Pentagon has answered: what does victory look like, what does it cost, and how does it end?
