Summary and Key Points: Stephen Silver — award-winning journalist, Philadelphia Inquirer contributor, and decade-long national security correspondent — reports on President Donald Trump’s escalating threats against Kharg Island, Iran’s critical oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf.
-Trump claimed U.S. strikes “totally decimated” the facility while Axios reported the White House is weighing a physical seizure requiring U.S. boots on the ground.
Marines with Battery N, 5th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, fire an M777 A2 howitzer during a series of integrated firing exercises at the Combat Center’s Quakenbush Training Area April 26, 2013. (Official USMC photo by Cpl. William J. Jackson/Released)
Lance Cpl. Alex Rowan, a combat engineer with 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division, stationed out of Bessemer, Ala., runs to take cover before the Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System detonates during the SAPPER Leaders Course aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., June 26, 2015. During the course, the Marines used assault and breaching techniques to clear a wire obstacle using line charges that utilized C4 explosives and their APOBS. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Krista James/Released)
–Kharg Island handles approximately 90% of Iran’s crude exports from fields including Ahvaz, Marun, and Gachsaran, generating the revenue funding Iran’s military and proxy network.
-Royal United Services Institute energy researcher Petras Katinas warns losing Kharg would make it “difficult for the country to function,” while JP Morgan analysts caution a direct strike would trigger severe Iranian retaliation across the Strait of Hormuz.
Seizing Kharg Island Would Cripple Iran — but Analysts Warn of a Dangerous Mission Creep
President Donald Trump over the weekend claimed that U.S. strikes had “totally demolished” Kharg Island’s export hub, a statement that sent oil prices rising once again.
The president also threatened to attack the vital island once again, “just for fun.”
“We’ve totally decimated it,” Trump said. “Except, as you know, I didn’t do anything having to do with the energy lines, because having to rebuild that would take years.”
Meanwhile, Axios reported that Trump is “weighing a seizure” of the island, “a move that would require U.S. boots on the ground,” should the Strait of Hormuz remain closed.
“Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” the president declared in a Truth Social post over the weekend.
MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, Hawaii (July 6, 2022) U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Darrel Ebaugh, a scout sniper with Weapons Company, Battalion Land Team, 3d Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Marine Air-Ground Task Force 7 (MAGFT-7), sights in on a target during a live-fire sniper range in support of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022, on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, July 6, 2022. Twenty-six nations, 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 29 to Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationship among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Brayden Daniel)
U.S. Marines with Golf Battery, 2d Battalion, 11th Marines, currently attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and Australian Defence Forces with 109th Battery, 4th Regiment, fire an M777 155 mm Howitzer during Exercise Talisman Sabre 21 on Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia, July 17, 2021. Australian and U.S. Forces combine biennually for Talisman Sabre, a month-long multi-domain exercise that strengthens allied and partner capabilities to respond to the full range of Indo-Pacific security concerts. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ujian Gosun)
A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53D Sea Stallion with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) lands on Forward Operating Base Edinburgh, Helmand province, Afghanistan, 26 May 2012. The helicopter was transporting U.S. Marines with Regional Command (SouthWest) and Afghan National Army soldiers with 4th Kandak, 2nd Brigade, 215th Corps.
Trump also declared that “hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others” would join that effort, although it didn’t appear any of those countries had made any such commitment as of Monday.
Per Axios, “it was a busy weekend of diplomacy between the U.S. and European, Gulf and Asian allies,” a source familiar with the details said. “The Trump administration’s primary focus is to build political commitment from allies for a Strait of Hormuz grouping.”
As Fortune magazine reported, “the U.S. strike on the island in the Persian Gulf left its oil infrastructure intact, but President Donald Trump warned that if Iran or anyone else interferes with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, he will reconsider his decision not to wipe it out.
“Although they account for only a small share of Iran’s territory, the islands carry outsized importance because of their oil facilities and strategic location.”
What is Kharg Island?
Sometimes called the “Forbidden Island,” Kharg Island lies off the coast of Iran, North of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The small coral island about 21 miles (33 kilometers) off Iran’s coast is the primary terminal through which nearly all of Iran’s oil exports pass. Iran has exported 13.7 million barrels since the war started, and multiple tankers were seen on satellite imagery Wednesday loading at Kharg, according to TankerTrackers.com, a maritime intelligence company,” Fortune reported.
According to an article by Australia’s ABC News, the island “could be Iran’s weak spot” in a potential ground invasion. But there are massive risks, both to the lives of U.S. troops and to the global energy market.
“A small island off the coast of Iran’s mainland could unlock the war for the regime’s adversaries, but analysts say damaging strikes by the US or Israel could put the global oil market on a perilous path,” the ABC report said.
Why is Kharg Island so important?
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Anthony L. Ortiz / Released)
(U.S. Marine Corps HDR photo by Sgt. Jamean R. Berry/Released)
“There are plenty of similar targets in mainland Iran, but one small island off the coast makes the regime’s oil industry and the cash pipeline it provides particularly vulnerable,” the ABC story said. “Kharg Island is a coral outcrop that sits about 25 kilometres off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf.
“It’s small, but importantly, its long jetties provide supertankers access to deep water, unlike mainland Iran’s sloping shoreline.”
It’s a very important place for Iran’s economy.
“The island is a vital connection between Iran’s most valuable exports and its customers, with up to 90 per cent of the regime’s oil trade passing through the Kharg Island terminal,” the ABC story said.
“From Iran’s largest producing fields, including Ahvaz, Marun and Gachsaran, the oil travels to Kharg Island via pipeline before being loaded onto tankers that then pass through the Strait of Hormuz and onto the Arabian Sea,” the report added. “What it brings the regime in return is immense wealth, funding the salaries of its bureaucrats and soldiers.”
Petras Katinas, an energy researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, told Fortune that Kharg Island was “critical to funding Iran’s government and military.” This is why Trump is threatening to attack or take control of the island.
“If Iran were to lose control of Kharg, it would be difficult for the country to function, even though the island isn’t a military or nuclear target,” was how Fortune characterized Katinas’ comments.
“It doesn’t matter which regime is in power — new or old,” Katinas reported.
“A direct strike would immediately halt the bulk of Iran’s crude exports, likely triggering severe retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz or against regional energy infrastructure,” an analysis from JP Morgan said, per ABC.
What Will Trump Do?
The president has several options for how to proceed with the Iran campaign.
“Trump has not ruled out some sort of limited ground intervention or invasion and if they, for example, seize this particular little island … Iranian exports come to a halt,” Kamran Matin, associate professor of international relations at the University of Sussex, said, per the ABC report.
“There will be basically no income whatsoever for the regime for the foreseeable future,” Matin added.
“But then that would also mean that in order to protect that little island, which is very close to the mainland, they have to also occupy some more land in the mainland, and mission creep will just expand and expand.”
That story also quoted Keith Kellogg, a former Trump White House adviser, discussing a potential ground mission. Kellogg was clear that the Iran campaign can’t possibly turn out like Iraq or Afghanistan.
“The country is so darn large that they [troops on the ground] really can’t make any impact. They’re not going to march to Tehran,” Kellogg told Fox News.
Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, also raised the subject of a further attack on Kharg Island.
“Israel must destroy all of Iran’s oil fields and energy industry on Kharg Island; that is what will cripple Iran’s economy and topple the regime,” Lapid wrote on X last week.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
