Iran’s Kharg Island has moved from a remote waypoint into a strategic focal point as a U.S.-and-Israel-launched war that began a month ago has sharpened attention on infrastructure near the Strait of Hormuz. The island, home to a terminal through which Iran exports most of its oil, illustrates how targeting energy assets could both hit revenue and open the door to wider retaliation in a conflict that has already disrupted shipping through the waterway.
Kharg’s significance stems from its role in moving Iran’s crude through a corridor that carries a large share of global traded oil. The terminal sits on the small island, and Iran has continued exporting oil, mainly to China, through the Strait of Hormuz even after attacks closed the vital waterway to most traffic. Losing Kharg—or damaging the terminal—would deny Tehran a major revenue source while also removing additional oil from world markets at a time when oil and fuel prices have been rising.
The risks are not limited to economics. Analysts cited by the Associated Press say destruction or loss of Kharg’s infrastructure would severely damage Iran’s economy and could undermine any future government that might emerge from the war’s outcome, while also provoking retaliation that could extend to Gulf Arab infrastructure. The story also highlights a military risk calculation tied to geography: an occupation of Kharg would place U.S. troops at a stationary distance of about 33 kilometers (21 miles) off Iran’s coast, putting them within range of Iran’s drones and missiles.
U.S. policy intent, however, has so far distinguished between hitting military capabilities on the island and targeting the oil facilities. Associated Press reported that President Donald Trump said strikes in mid-March “obliterated” Kharg’s military assets but did not target the island’s oil infrastructure. Trump also warned that if Iran continued disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would reconsider sparing energy targets on the island.
The month-old conflict has also drawn attention to other islands near Hormuz that can shape operational options for navies and militaries. Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands—tiny landmasses guarding the approach to the strait—have long been a flashpoint between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Iran seized the islands in November 1971, days after the United Kingdom withdrew from the Gulf and just before the formation of the UAE. Iran maintains military assets and garrisons on the islands and has staged military drills there.
Iran and the UAE each offer competing historical narratives for the islands. Iran says the islands have been part of Persian states from antiquity until they were occupied by the British in the early 20th century, while the UAE claims all three islands. The dispute has kept the islands in the strategic background even before the current war made the wider Hormuz approach an even more sensitive battleground.
Qeshm Island, by contrast, is larger and more populated. The largest island in the Persian Gulf sits near the Strait of Hormuz and is home to about 150,000 people, according to the Associated Press. Iran said on March 8 that the U.S. struck a desalination plant on Qeshm Island, a claim Washington did not acknowledge; the desalination plant supplied water to about 30 villages, underscoring how infrastructure beyond oil can be pulled into the conflict’s pressure points.