![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0950708b58fea9956172b924ac44c9c04791694c.jpg\")
An oil facility on Kharg Island in 2017. File image Credit: Getty Images via NBC<\/p>\nWar analysts have been weighing up the risk of a US military invasion of Kharg Island.<\/p>\n
The tiny Iranian island is responsible for 90 per cent of the nation\u2019s crude oil exports, and is Iran\u2019s \u201ceconomic lifeline\u201d, according to Gulf International Forum executive director Dania Thafer.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump\u2019s team members have refused to rule out the US seizing Kharg Island, which would be an attempt to collapse the regime\u2019s economy and loosen its grip on the global market, US officials have said.<\/p>\n
The US has so far dodged energy infrastructure while bombing more than 90 targets on Kharg Island, including air defences, a naval base and mine storage facilities.<\/p>\n
Iran said that any damage to energy infrastructure would be met with retaliatory strikes on American-linked facilities in the region.<\/p>\n
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that Trump is \u201cleaving all options on the table … What could happen with Kharg Island? We\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in 1988, during a marine traffic disruption in the Persian Gulf at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Trump said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper that taking Kharg Island would be a way to pressure Iran if it fired at American troops or ships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d do a number on Kharg Island; I\u2019d go in and take it,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s current stance on the matter remains unknown, though he has recently deployed more than 1000 paratroopers and 5000 Marines, putting Iran on alert for a potential ground invasion.<\/p>\n
Some analysts, such as Villanova University military geography expert and former Army lieutenant colonel Francis A. Galgano, believe the move \u201cshould be one of the central missions of the conflict\u201d if the US aim is to win the war against Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides the US with enormous leverage in any negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
But other analysts, such as University College London US-Iran relations expert Christian Emery said that such an attack would be a major gamble.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump would be gambling that the remaining Iranian leadership, faced with the loss of tens of billions in annual revenue, would capitulate,\u201d Emery said.<\/p>\n
He said that \u201cmilitary success is by no means guaranteed\u201d and noted the \u201creal risk of it spiraling into a far more dangerous\u201d situation.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It) would be an absolutely disastrous decision that would ensure the conflict lasted many months.\u201d<\/p>\n
An oil facility on Kharg Island in 2017. File image Credit: Getty Images via NBC<\/p>\n
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