Iran's Kharg Island, home to a terminal through which the country exports most of its oil, has emerged as a focus of the war launched in late February by the United States and Israel. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Strikes on oil infrastructure on Kharg — or a ground invasion — would severely curb Iran's oil exports, a key source of revenue for the Islamic Republic. An assault would also mark a major escalation that could provoke even heavier retaliatory attacks on Gulf Arab infrastructure and further drive up oil prices. The skyrocketing cost of fuel is already threatening the world economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump said strikes in mid-March "obliterated" Kharg's military assets but did not target the island's oil infrastructure. He warned that if Iran continued disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, he would reconsider the decision to spare energy targets on the island.
Then on Thursday, Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. would "assume total control" of Iran's oil and gas industries, including the Kharg Island terminal, in the "not too distant future."
Trump later said he called off new military strikes on Iran, just hours after saying the U.S. would hit Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT." He suggested that progress had been made in talks to extend the fragile ceasefire.
The president made the threats as escalating attacks between the countries pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of full-scale war. His latest remarks emerged at a time when efforts to negotiate an end to the war appear to be stuck.
The island is on the other side of the Persian Gulf from U.S. bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. A U.S. occupation of it would put American troops in a stationary position just 33 kilometers from the Iranian coast.