The coral island of “Kharg” stands with its small area of no more than 24 square kilometers as a living testament to the struggle of wills in the heart of the Gulf; it is not just an oil export terminal, but represents a geopolitical knot that encapsulates a long history of international rivalry and strategic transformations in the region, according to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.
“Since ancient times, its location in the middle of the Gulf’s maritime passages has attracted the attention of commercial and naval powers that traversed these waters. However, its role in the modern era acquired different dimensions with the development of the oil industry, turning the Gulf into one of the most important energy centers in the world,” Al-Akhbar mentioned in an article.
“With the expansion of oil extraction in southwest Iran during the 20th century, Kharg gradually turned into a vital center for oil gathering and export, where pipelines from Iranian onshore oil fields were connected to the island, making it later the main outlet through which a large proportion of Iranian oil exports pass to global markets.
Thanks to its massive storage and loading facilities and the nature of its deep shores, the island has become a cornerstone in Iran’s economic infrastructure, and has turned into a sensitive point in the equation of global energy market stability, given its strategically important geographical location.
Despite the economic value Kharg represents, its importance is not just economic, but also military, considering what historical experience has proven: that it is capable of withstanding significant military pressures. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Kharg’s oil facilities were subjected to a series of intense Iraqi air strikes as part of what was known as the “Tanker War”, a phase that witnessed targeting of energy infrastructure and oil ports in the Gulf.
Despite the intensity of the bombing, those attacks failed to completely paralyze the island’s role, and export operations continued there to varying degrees throughout the war. This demonstrated the ability of Iran’s oil infrastructure in Kharg to absorb shocks and continue operating even under conditions of direct military conflict.
Amidst these historical tensions, specifically in 1988, ideas emerged in some American circles discussing the possibility of using control of the island as a strategic pressure card. In a famous interview with The Guardian, then-American businessman Donald Trump called for occupying Kharg and seizing its oil facilities, which might give the United States the ability to pressure Iran by controlling its oil exports.
Although these statements were made outside official American institutions, they reflected a strategic perception based on the idea that controlling the key energy node could be an effective means of influencing the Iranian economy.
The idea of occupying Kharg seems closer to political pressure than a feasible plan today. More than three decades after those statements, political and strategic discussions in the United States are reviving similar scenarios, talking about the possibility of imposing military control on the island or carrying out landing operations to protect or disable oil facilities as part of pressure on Tehran.
However, such proposals face a complex field reality; Kharg is not just an isolated island that can be dealt with as a traditional military target, but is a huge, interconnected oil facility with storage, loading, and transportation systems directly linked to Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Therefore, any military action targeting the island carries significant risks, not only due to the potential destruction of the oil facilities themselves, but also because of the economic repercussions that could result from disrupting export operations or damaging the sensitive oil infrastructure and polluting the Gulf waters. These facilities represent investments worth billions of dollars, and any military confrontation in their vicinity could lead to widespread losses, in addition to the possibility of major disruptions in the global energy market.
The mention of ground operations in Iran targeting islands such as “Kharg”, “Greater Tunb”, “Lesser Tunb”, and “Abu Musa” seems to be a prelude to an attempt to demonstrate strength through firepower and capture images of American forces on Iranian soil. However, the complexity surrounding any military scenario involving the islands, especially “Kharg”, would disrupt oil exports from the island. This would not be an event confined to a narrow geographical area, but would extend its impact to the entire oil export system in the Gulf, where oil platforms and port operations might be halted from Iraq’s Basra in the north, through Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, to Oman.
Thus, any escalation in this region becomes a factor threatening the stability of global energy flows. Given the above, the idea of occupying “Kharg” or imposing military control over it seems more like a political pressure tool than a feasible plan. The complex geography of the region and the deep interconnection between the oil infrastructure and maritime passages make this island a sensitive point in regional security and global economy equations, making it difficult to engage in such adventures.”