{"id":1667,"date":"2026-06-11T15:11:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1667"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:11:33","slug":"explainer-taking-kharg-island-would-pose-risks-for-us-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1667","title":{"rendered":"Explainer: Taking Kharg Island would pose risks for US troops"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
WASHINGTON, June 11 – President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to take over Kharg Island, Iran’s oil infrastructure hub. Analysts say the U.S. military could seize the island quickly, but the move could leave U.S. troops \u200bin great peril and prolong rather than shorten the war.<\/div>\n

WHERE IS KHARG ISLAND AND WHY IS IT \u200cIMPORTANT?<\/h2>\n
Kharg Island sits 16 miles (26 km) from Iran’s coast in the northern end of the Gulf, about 300 miles (483 km) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. It lies in waters deep enough to enable the docking of tankers that are too large to approach the Iranian mainland’s \u200bshallow coastal waters.<\/div>\n
The island handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war started on February 28. Seizing it \u200bwould severely disrupt Iran’s energy trade and place enormous pressure on Tehran’s economy. Iran is the \u2060third largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.<\/div>\n

WHAT IS THE STATE OF PLAY?<\/h2>\n
U.S. forces carried out strikes \u200bagainst Kharg in March and April, and Trump said they “totally obliterated” all military targets there and said they could next target \u200boil infrastructure. U.S. officials told Reuters at the time the administration was weighing whether to send ground forces to the island<\/svg>, opens new tab<\/span>.<\/div>\n
Kharg has not been attacked since then, though the United States has targeted oil tankers near the island as it maintains a blockade on Iranian ports.<\/div>\n
Trump on Thursday \u200bsaid he would like to seize the oil hub, though he did not indicate clear plans to do so.<\/div>\n
“My preference has always \u200bbeen – take Kharg Island … my preference would be that. I don’t know that America has the stomach for it,” he told Fox News.<\/div>\n
Seizing \u200cthe \u2060island might not have an immediate impact on Iran’s economy, as the country’s oil exports have already been severely curtailed by the war.<\/div>\n

CAMERA-WIELDING DRONES<\/h2>\n
U.S. troops could likely seize the island relatively quickly, but that would not necessarily lead to a quick and decisive end to the war, experts said.<\/div>\n
“A seizure and occupation of Kharg Island is more likely to expand and extend the \u200bwar than it is to \u200bdeliver any sort of decisive \u2060victory,” Ryan Brobst and Cameron McMillan of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote<\/svg>, opens new tab<\/span> in March.<\/div>\n
They said U.S. troops would be exposed to missile and drone attacks, including, potentially, camera-wielding “first-person view drones” \u200bthat are already used by the millions in Ukraine.<\/div>\n
“Upon any successful strikes, the Iranian regime \u200bwould be expected \u2060to release videos of those attacks online, using the graphic deaths of American service members as propaganda,” they said.<\/div>\n

TROOPS NEED BACKUP<\/h2>\n
A former commander of the U.S. Central Command, Joseph Votel, told TWZ.com<\/svg>, opens new tab<\/span> in March that while only 800 to 1,000 troops would be needed to \u2060hold Kharg \u200bIsland, they would require logistical backup that would need protection as well.<\/div>\n
Votel \u200bsaid the troops would be very vulnerable and doubted that taking the island would provide any particular tactical advantage. He said it would be an “odd” thing \u200bto do, although the U.S. could do so if it had to.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to take over Kharg Island, Iran’s oil infrastructure hub. Analysts say the U.S. military could seize the island quickly, but the move could leave U.S. troops \u200bin great peril and prolong rather than shorten the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-1667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-middle-east"],"yoast_head":"\nExplainer: Taking Kharg Island would pose risks for US troops - Reliable Moving Crews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1667\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Explainer: Taking Kharg Island would pose risks for US troops - Reliable Moving Crews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to take over Kharg Island, Iran's oil infrastructure hub. 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