{"slug": "irans-achilles-heel-why-trump-has-his-sights-on-the-tiny-oil-hub-kharg-island", "title": "Iran’s Achilles Heel: Why Trump has his sights on the tiny oil hub Kharg Island", "summary": "US President Donald Trump posted a fake AI video on Truth Social claiming Iran's Kharg Island was destroyed, a claim debunked by his own officials, though Vice President JD Vance confirmed US strikes on military targets there in April. Kharg Island handles about 90% of Iran's oil exports, making it a strategic target, with experts calling it Iran's 'Achilles Heel' and US officials discussing seizing it.", "body_md": "# Iran’s Achilles Heel: Why Trump has his sights on the tiny oil hub Kharg Island\n\nThe island holds around 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports and could choke off the country’s economy for years. [Maira Butt](/author/maira-butt) and [James C. Reynolds](/author/james-c-reynolds) report\n\n- Bookmark\n- CommentsGo to comments\n\nSix months into the war with Iran, [US president Donald Trump](/topic/trump) has posted a fake AI video to social media, claiming that a key Iranian island[ was being destroyed](/news/world/middle-east/trump-iran-kharg-island-map-attack-b3042002.html).\n\nThe claim that Kharg Island was “blow to smithereens”, accompanied by a clip of refineries exploding into flames on Truth Social, was quickly [debunked by his own officials. ](/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-war-kharg-island-attack-ai-video-b3042131.html)\n\nThe US has struck Kharg before, however, with Vice President JD Vance [confirming in April “military targets” on the outlet had been hit](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-hits-military-targets-kharg-island-us-official-tells-reuters-2026-04-07/).\n\nTrump himself has previously suggested the strategically-important location, which experts have described as Iran’s “Achilles Heel”, could be seized by the US altogether if need be.\n\nBelow we look at the importance of the island, which handles around 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports and [why it has caught the president’s attention](/news/world/middle-east/iran-us-war-live-trump-strikes-larak-island-jordan-b3041946.html).\n\n## What do we know about Kharg Island?\n\nKharg is located 16 miles from the coast of Iran in the northern end of the Gulf, a rocky outlet measuring less than eight square miles with a population of around 8,000.\n\nAlso known as ‘Forbidden Island’, it is northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important shipping route that Iran has effectively closed to pile pressure on the US as the war drags on.\n\nIran exports 90 per cent of its crude via Kharg, which makes it a key target given the soaring fuel prices the conflict sparked.\n\nWith this in mind, Tehran has fortified the island with additional surface-to-air missiles and laid traps including anti-personnel and anti-armour mines in the waters surrounding it, *CNN* has reported, citing people familiar with US intelligence.\n\n**Why taking Kharg could cut off Iran’s oil lifeline**\n\nShipping through the Strait of Hormuz has largely come to a halt since the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps](/topic/islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps) (IRGC) took “complete control” of the major waterway earlier this year.\n\nGlobal supply chains have been severely affected and experts have warned of a devastating economic impact across the world if it continues.\n\nOil prices surged to well over $100 a barrel since the war began, and the IRGC has warned that it could reach $200 if hostilities escalate.\n\n“Should he [Trump] take Kharg, rather than destroy it, he can not only ensure the regime can never again pay the salaries of its bureaucrats and soldiers,” former Pentagon official Michael Rubin wrote in an article for the American Enterprise Institute in January this year, before Trump’s assault.\n\n“The IRGC, of course, could target Kharg with ballistic missiles, but that would sign their death warrant. Not only would [Trump](/topic/trump) respond in kind, but such action would end Iranian oil exports for months to come, again leaving salaries unpaid.”\n\nIt was reported in March that US administration officials had discussed[ seizing](/voices/iran-war-us-israel-airstrikes-trump-strategy-b2934681.html) Kharg Island, according to *Axios*, but this would present a number of practical challenges.\n\n**Could the US seize Kharg Island?**\n\nWhile US forces could likely take Kharg quite quickly, analysts say that an occupation is more likely to expand and prolong the war than it is to deliver a decisive victory or leverage in negotiations.\n\nA former commander of the US Central Command, Joseph Votel, [told TWZ.com in June](https://www.twz.com/news-features/what-it-would-take-to-seize-irans-kharg-island-according-to-top-former-military-leaders) that while only 800 to 1,000 troops would be needed on Kharg Island, they would require logistical backup that would need protection as well.\n\nVotel said that US troops would be very vulnerable and doubted that taking the island would provide any particular tactical advantage. It would be \"kind of an odd thing to do... But we could certainly do it if we had to,\" he said.\n\nTroops already navigating traps would also likely have to contend with an onslaught of missiles and drones. Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has warned.\n\nGulf allies have warned the administration not to put troops on the ground in Iran, saying it could trigger more retaliation from Tehran, possibly against their energy and civilian infrastructure, a senior Gulf official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.\n\nTrump has previously boasted that US strikes in mid-March had “obliterated” Iranian military outposts on the island, but left its oil infrastructure alone for now.\n\n## Island could be used as bargaining chip in talks\n\nOther analysts have suggested the island could be used as a bargaining chip as oil exports make up nearly 40 per cent of Iran’s government budget.\n\nHowever, it would make American and Israeli troops vulnerable to attacks by Iranian forces.\n\n“If President Trump were to decide to seize this pivotal hub, it would deal a significant blow to the Iranian regime, as it would deprive them of a critical source of revenue,” [oil analyst Tamas Varga toldCN](http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=44681X1458326&xcust=b3042453&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2026%2F03%2F09%2Firan-war-us-israel-conflict-oil-prices-kharg-island.html&sref=/news/world/middle-east/trump-iran-kharg-island-map-oil-war-b3042453.html)[BC in March](http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=44681X1458326&xcust=b3042453&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2026%2F03%2F09%2Firan-war-us-israel-conflict-oil-prices-kharg-island.html&sref=/news/world/middle-east/trump-iran-kharg-island-map-oil-war-b3042453.html).\n\n“Such a move would be reminiscent of the US intervention in Venezuela at the beginning of the year, when it effectively took control of the country’s oil sector.”\n\nThe island was previously attacked by Saddam Hussein in 1984, sparking the oil tanker war in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Iraq.\n\nBut this isn’t the first time Kharg appears to have been in Trump’s sightline. He previously made a throwaway remark about the island nearly 40 years ago while promoting his book *The Art of the Deal* in an interview with *The Guardian*.\n\n“They’ve been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools,” he said of Iran in 1988. “One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and I’d do a number on Kharg Island. I’d go in and take it.”\n\n## Capturing island ‘would send markets into tailspin’\n\nNeil Quilliam, an energy policy and foreign affairs analyst at Chatham House, told *The Independent *that while it is “unlikely” Trump would take over the territory, any attempt would “likely send the markets into a tailspin”. It could also block any future resolution between the countries, leading to an endless standoff.\n\n“The US would effectively control Iran’s major export terminal, but the Iranian leadership would remain in control of the country’s production so there would be a standoff,” he said. It could also be a “major cause for concern” for Gulf countries, setting a dangerous precedent.\n\n“It is Iran’s Achilles heel in this war, but fighting for and occupying Kharg could cause irreparable damage to the terminal and hurt any successor regime’s chances of managing the economy,” he continued.\n\n“Previous presidents have steered away from Kharg, understanding its strategic importance to global oil markets.”\n\n## Join our commenting forum\n\nJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies\n\n[Comments](#comments-area)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/irans-achilles-heel-why-trump-has-his-sights-on-the-tiny-oil-hub-kharg-island", "canonical_source": "https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/trump-iran-kharg-island-map-oil-war-b3042453.html", "published_at": "2026-09-01 04:44:09+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-01 04:52:54.982084+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Donald Trump", "JD Vance", "Kharg Island", "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps", "Michael Rubin", "American Enterprise Institute", "CNN", "Axios"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/irans-achilles-heel-why-trump-has-his-sights-on-the-tiny-oil-hub-kharg-island", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/irans-achilles-heel-why-trump-has-his-sights-on-the-tiny-oil-hub-kharg-island.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/irans-achilles-heel-why-trump-has-his-sights-on-the-tiny-oil-hub-kharg-island.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/irans-achilles-heel-why-trump-has-his-sights-on-the-tiny-oil-hub-kharg-island.jsonld"}}