US President Donald Trump says the United States will seize Kharg Island, a major oil export hub, from the Iranian regime.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, the President said the military will carry out strikes on regime targets as it has done the past two nights. "The United States will be hitting Iran (whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, anti-aircraft, and all other forms of defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are gone!), very hard tonight."

He added that "at some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America."

Shortly after publishing the post, Trump spoke with Fox and Friends and explained: "They (Iran) have no defense, they can't do anything about it. The only thing they have is fake news. The New York Times writes stories saying that they're doing great, they're not; they've been wiped out."

He insisted that the regime is "dying to make a deal, they want to make a deal so badly." According to Trump, the Iranians "really are in submission, they just don't know it yet.

The President added, "My preference has always been to take Kharg Island. I don't know if America has the stomach for it; they'd make a fortune, but I don't know if they have the stomach for it. I think they'd like to see us come home."

The US military conducted strikes on Iranian targets for a second night in a row early Thursday morning. CENTCOM said its forces launched strikes on Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across Iran.

US Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy assets fired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to US forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.

The US Military said the strikes were in response to Iran's "unwarranted and continued aggression."

A night earlier (early Wednesday morning), the US struck regime targets after Iran downed a US Apache helicopter over the Gulf of Oman.

Throughout the week, the President has been signaling a loss of patience with Iran as they drag out negotiations. On Wednesday, the President wrote: "Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore - They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"