The United States attacked military targets on Kharg Island overnight, according to U.S. and White House officials.
U.S. officials said the attack did not target oil facilities.
The US had previously attacked Kharg Island in March. U.S. Central Command said at the time that 90 targets were hit, including “naval mine storage facilities, missile storage facilities, and multiple other military facilities.”
Khalg Island, an exposed coral island off Iran’s coast, is an economic lifeline for Tehran, which processes about 90% of the country’s oil exports.
Here’s what we know about this island.
What is Kharg Island?
Kharg Island stretches eight kilometers off the Iranian coast, is about one-third the size of Manhattan, and is described by U.S. officials as “the nexus of Iran’s entire oil supply.”
Its long jetty juts out into waters deep enough for oil supertankers to dock, making the island an important location for oil distribution.
The island has long been key to Iran’s economy. A declassified 1984 CIA document published online states that these facilities are “the most important of Iran’s oil system and their continued operation is essential to Iran’s economic health.”
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), alternative export routes exist that bypass the Strait of Hormuz, but they are limited and have not been robustly tested on a large scale.
For example, Iran opened the Jask Oil Terminal in 2021, allowing crude oil to be shipped to Jask in the Gulf of Oman just east of the strait, but the terminal is not considered a viable export option for Iranian crude, the IEA said.
Kag Island’s storage capacity is estimated at around 30 million barrels, according to Reuters, and trade information firm Kpler says it currently stores around 18 million barrels of crude oil.
Last month, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the destruction of the terminal would “paralyze Iran’s economy and bring down the regime.” He declared that Israel “must destroy all Iranian oil fields and energy industries on Kharg Island.”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf said in March that “Iran’s enemies, with the support of one of the regional countries,” were preparing to seize one of the country’s islands, without directly mentioning the island’s name.
In recent weeks, Iran has laid traps and moved additional military and air defense forces to Kharg in preparation for a possible U.S. operation to seize the island, according to people familiar with U.S. intelligence reports on the matter.
The island already has layered defenses, and Iran has deployed additional shoulder-fired surface-to-air guided missile systems known as MANPADs in recent weeks, officials said.
Has the US attacked the island before?
yes. President Trump said in March that the United States had threatened to bomb “all military targets” on the island and attack oil infrastructure if Iran continued to block ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
A video posted on Truth Social and geolocated by CNN showed the US attack on the island’s airport complex, with large explosions and black smoke visible throughout the footage.
President Trump said on the same day that Kaag was “not high on the list, but this is one of so many different things that you can change your mind about in seconds.”
But President Trump was talking about invading the island as far back as 1988, decades before he was elected.
“If a bullet is fired at one of our soldiers or one of our ships, as I would do for many on Kharg Island, I will go in and take it,” he said in an interview with the Guardian at the time.
White House officials believe that capturing Kharg Island could “completely bankrupt” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and lead to an early end to the war, one official said.
But many within the administration are wary of such a move, especially given that it would require significant ground troops.
