Trump Considers Seizing Iran's Kharg Island Oil Hub in Escalation of War Aims

President Trump publicly confirmed Sunday that he is actively considering military operations to seize Kharg Island, the Iranian facility in the Persian Gulf that handles roughly 90 percent of the country's crude oil exports, in what would represent a dramatic escalation of the five-week-old war and a direct strike at the economic foundation of the Iranian state.

Trump made the disclosure in an interview with the Financial Times published Sunday, saying he wanted to take the oil in Iran and was weighing whether capturing Kharg Island was worth the military and diplomatic costs. I want to take their oil, the president said. Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We'll see what they decide to do. The statement sent global crude prices briefly above $120 per barrel before settling near $116, and triggered an immediate response from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which have privately urged the United States not to expand operations in ways that could further destabilize energy markets.

Kharg Island, located approximately 25 kilometers off the Iranian coast in the northern Persian Gulf, has been the central node of Iranian oil export infrastructure since the 1960s. It hosts loading terminals capable of handling supertankers carrying two million barrels, a network of subsea pipelines connecting it to onshore oilfields, and substantial storage tank farms. Military planners have long assessed Kharg Island as the most economically significant target in Iran outside of nuclear facilities, and Iran has invested heavily in air defense systems protecting the island since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, during which Iraqi aircraft repeatedly struck its facilities.

Capturing rather than destroying the island would require a significant ground force capable of defeating Iranian defenders estimated at several hundred to several thousand troops and holding the facility against counterattack while operating in range of Iranian land-based missiles. Military analysts said such an operation would likely require a Marine Expeditionary Brigade of at least 12,000 troops plus substantial naval and air support. The U.S. currently has roughly 50,000 troops in the broader Middle East theater.

Russia and China both issued diplomatic statements warning the United States against any seizure of Iranian territory, calling it a violation of international law that would set a precedent with implications far beyond the current conflict. European allies were similarly alarmed, with France's foreign minister saying any capture of Iranian sovereign territory would be a line the United States should not cross.