Iran Parliamentary Official Vows 'No American Soldier Will Return Alive' if Trump Orders Kharg Island Raid

A senior Iranian lawmaker has told Donald Trump that not a single American soldier would survive any attempt to seize Kharg Island, Iran's most vital oil terminal.

The warning came hours after the US president once again floated a takeover of the island, following a fresh exchange of strikes across the Gulf on 7 and 8 July that pushed the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran to the brink of collapse. Trump declared the truce 'over' at the NATO summit in Ankara, even as he left the door open for talks.

The Warning From Tehran

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, posted a direct response on X on 8 July: 'Come, we are waiting for you, and we promise that not a single American soldier will return alive.'

The post rebutted Trump's remarks in Ankara, where the president confirmed the US had struck Kharg Island overnight and repeated a threat he has issued throughout the ten-month war. 'We attacked Kharg Island last night, knocked out a piece,' Trump told reporters. 'We might take over Kharg Island. There's not a thing they can do about it.'

Kharg Island, an eight-square-mile strip roughly 34 miles off Iran's Bushehr coast, handles about 90 per cent of the country's crude oil exports, some 950 million barrels a year, most bound for China. Access is tightly restricted by the Revolutionary Guard, and the site has been called the 'Forbidden Island' for decades. The US has struck the island at least three times since March, though officials say oil infrastructure has largely been spared.

Strikes Across the Strait Reignite the War

The flare-up began on 7 July when three commercial tankers, including the Qatari-flagged LNG carrier Al-Rekayyat, were struck near Oman's coast while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar called the attack 'unacceptable' and said Doha held Iran 'fully legally responsible.'

US Central Command said it had launched 'powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs' for targeting commercial shipping, describing Iran's actions as a 'clear violation of the ceasefire.' An unnamed US official told Reuters the strikes hit Iranian air defence systems, coastal surveillance sites, missile batteries and drone-launch positions around Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Sirik.

Iranian state media reported explosions in all three locations plus Kharg Island, and said several people were injured by shrapnel at a commercial pier in Sirik. The Revolutionary Guard said it downed a US MQ-9 drone and struck what it described as 85 US military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, triggering air raid sirens in both Gulf states.

Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Ghalibaf, called the reinstated US oil sanctions and strikes 'major MoU violations,' referring to the 14-point memorandum signed on 18 June.

An Escalation Years in the Making

Trump's fixation on Kharg Island predates his presidency. In a 1988 interview with a British news publication, he said: '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.' He revived the threat formally on 11 June, writing that the US would soon be 'taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.'

CENTCOM's largest strike on the island came on 13 March, hitting more than 90 Iranian military sites while avoiding oil facilities, according to the command's own statement. White House officials have said seizing Kharg would 'totally bankrupt' the Revolutionary Guard's finances, though the Council on Foreign Relations has noted at least 8,000 civilians live on the island, raising the legal stakes of any occupation under international law.

US Vice President JD Vance warned on 8 July that further Iranian attacks on shipping would draw further retaliation. 'If Iran tries to close the strait down, there's going to be a response,' Vance told reporters.

Whether Rezaei's threat holds Trump back or hardens his resolve, both governments appear to be gambling with the same volatile stretch of water that supplies a fifth of the world's oil.