The United States struck Iran’s Kharg Island on Friday, hitting military targets on the small Persian Gulf outpost that handles roughly 90% of Iran’s oil exports, an attack that has sharply escalated tensions 15 days into the wider Middle East conflict. The strike, announced by US President Donald Trump, came amid warnings that disruption to Kharg’s facilities could choke Tehran’s crude shipments and further destabilise global oil markets.
Kharg is tiny-about 20 square kilometres, roughly eight kilometres long and five kilometres wide-and sits some 28 kilometres off Iran’s Bushehr province. The rocky limestone island, home to a small population of gazelles, has been described both as Iran’s “crown jewel” by Mr Trump and, decades earlier, as the “orphan pearl of the Persian Gulf” by Iranian writer Jalal Al-e-Ahmad.
The island is the nerve centre for Iran’s seaborne oil exports. Storage tanks, loading terminals and a web of subsea pipelines receive crude from offshore fields such as Aboozar, Forouzan and Dorood and from major onshore fields including Ahvaz, Marun and Gachsaran. The facilities handle what the report calls 95 crore barrels of crude each year-about 950 million barrels-and, according to Petras Katinas, an energy researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, Kharg is vital to funding Iran’s government and military. Katinas told The Associated Press that losing control of Kharg would make it difficult for Iran to function.
Kharg’s importance is not only industrial. The island contains historical and religious sites-from the seventh-century Mir Mohammad Shrine and the Mir Aram Shrine with Achaemenid-era inscriptions, to Zoroastrian burial places, Christian graves, Sassanid tombs and the remains of an 18th-century Dutch fort-details chronicled in an Al Jazeera feature.
Military movements have intensified around the island after reports that the United States had considered seizing Kharg. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that the Pentagon sent the Japan-based amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli to the region with about 2,500 Marines. Mr Trump said US forces had “heavily bombed targets” on Kharg and added, “I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island,” while warning of further action if Iran interferes with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has largely halted operations in the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20% of the world’s oil, a disruption that has pushed prices toward $100 a barrel and prompted warnings from financial institutions. JP Morgan cautioned the strike could provoke “severe retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz or against regional energy infrastructure.” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Tehran “will abandon all restraint” if islands are attacked and held Mr Trump responsible for “the blood of American soldiers,” underscoring the risk of a wider, more destructive response.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/middle-east-war-why-kharg-island-irans-crown-jewel-is-key-in-us-israel-war-11213688#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-03-14 10:08:00
