Trump threatens to ‘knock the hell out of’ Iran's Kharg Island in impromptu phone call with PBS News

President Donald Trump threatened Monday to strike Iran's Kharg Island again following an attack last week that destroyed key military facilities, saying "I told them openly — I'll knock the hell out of it."

The comments came during a three-minute phone call Monday morning with PBS News' Liz Landers, while the president was attending what he described as a "very important meeting" on the Iran war.

Trump announced Friday on Truth Social that he had "totally obliterated every military target" on the island, home to a small oil terminal in the Persian Gulf that ships 90% of Iran's oil exports.

U.S. military officials reported Saturday that a number of military and missile facilities were destroyed in the attack, but oil infrastructure was preserved. Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would retaliate if the country's oil or energy infrastructure was attacked.

By phone Monday, Trump described the island as "out of commission except for the pipes, which I left."

"I didn't want to hit the pipes because, you know, years of work to put them together," he added. "It's dead militarily now, totally. Every military area … they've fled."

Trump said he "didn't even come close" to hitting oil infrastructure, indicating he "left 100 yards around it." "Because once you do that, you know, it's a long time. It's a long building process."

Trump said he "left a lot of infrastructure" in the attacks on Tehran since the U.S. and Israel first attacked in late February, because "it's years of building."

"I could knock out the electric plants in one hour. They'd be gone. But if I do that, that's years of rebuilding and it's trauma. So I'm trying to hold off on that kind of thing."

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A majority of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the war in Iran, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll, and also oppose U.S. military action there.

The Trump administration has provided varied and evolving goals for the war in Iran, ultimately saying that the president will determine when the mission has succeeded. At the beginning of March, Trump predicted the war would last "four to five weeks."

When asked Monday whether he sees U.S. troops on the ground in Iran, he responded: "I don't wanna say that." When asked if his thinking has changed on the issue, he said, "No, it's not changed, but I just don't want to talk about that, because I'm not gonna talk about strategy with a reporter. O.K.?"

Gas prices have soared since the war began. The International Energy Agency released 400 million barrels of oils from its reserves last week to stabilize the market.

Trump said by phone Monday that "the oil prices will drop like a rock" as soon as the war is over.

When asked by PBS News when exactly that would be, Trump said, "Well, as soon as the war is over and it won't … I don't believe it will be long."

When pressed for more specifics on a timeline, Trump said: "I don't want to say. I never want to say that because if I'm two days late, you'll criticize me."