Mr. Trump: The US will occupy Iran’s ‘oil lifeline’ island

“The US military will attack Iran very fiercely tonight. At some point in the not too distant future, the US will occupy Kharg Island and Iran’s oil infrastructure, taking complete control of their oil and gas market, just like we did with Venezuela,” President Donald Trump said in a social media post today.

President Trump did not detail how the US would control Iran’s oil export ports. “Iran’s navy, air force, air defense force and other forms of defense, as well as most of its offensive capabilities, have been destroyed,” he said.

In an interview with Fox News On the same day, President Trump said that his priority has always been to occupy Kharg Island. “That’s the option I want, but I don’t know whether America has the determination to do it,” he said.

Referring to the upcoming attack on Iran, the US leader declared that he did not want to target bridges and power plants. “There will be larger, stronger and more drastic air strikes tonight,” he affirmed, but emphasized that the US still maintains dialogue with Iran to reach an agreement.

Mr. Ibrahim Azizi, Chairman of the National Security Committee of the Iranian parliament, said that the US President “will have to receive a more violent and painful reaction”.

“They are people who are easy to predict, because he does not really hold the cards of power. Mr. Trump has achieved almost nothing but only made America pay a huge price. Every wrong step will face a much more painful reaction than before. Those threats are just illusions. The US President understands that any reaction from Iran can entail consequences that he cannot bear,” Mr. Azizi said.

This is not the first time the US President has mentioned the possibility of occupying Kharg Island, as he raised this idea in the early stages of the conflict.

Kharg Island is located in the Persian Gulf, about 25 km from the coast of Iran, more than 480 km from the Strait of Hormuz, with a length of only 6 km and an area of ​​20 km2. The facilities at Kharg have the capacity to process 7 million barrels of oil per day, and about 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports pass through the island, most of which is sold to Asia, especially China.

With an economy significantly dependent on energy exports, Kharg is considered Iran’s “oil lifeline” and vital link.

US forces in mid-March launched air strikes on Kharg Island, targeting about 90 military targets there, including mine depots, missile silos and many other facilities. President Donald Trump later said the US had avoided attacking oil infrastructure on the island.

Another attack on Kharg was conducted on April 7, before the US and Iran reached a ceasefire.

James Stavridis, former NATO supreme allied commander, said the airstrikes had weakened air defense and coastal defense capabilities on Kharg Island, destroying a number of Iran’s HAWK missile complexes and Oerlikon anti-aircraft artillery.

Experts say the US will have to pour troops into Kharg if it wants to control the island. That would be a strong escalation, requiring a large-scale, long-term and potentially risky campaign, potentially causing serious consequences, even within the United States.

The island is about 32 km from the mainland, making US forces stationed here vulnerable to attacks by Iran with many different weapons. In addition, US amphibious assault ships will have difficulty moving through the Strait of Hormuz to reach Kharg Island.

The maritime blockade campaign against Kharg Island is easier to implement in the short term, but also comes with the risk of US warships being attacked by Iran with suicide boats, anti-ship cruise missiles and other asymmetric weapons.