An undated satellite image of Kharg Island, located about 20 miles off Iran’s coast. (NASA)
President Donald Trump is considering seizing Kharg Island, a major source of Iran’s revenue that could give the U.S. more leverage in opening the Strait of Hormuz.
Doing so would require a large-scale operation and could lead to a significant number of U.S. casualties, experts say.
The island, about 20 miles off Iran’s coast and 350 miles from the Strait of Hormuz, is the terminal for about 90% of Iran’s crude oil, acting as a crucial hub for the country’s most valuable export.
Earlier this month, Trump said U.S. forces had “totally obliterated” every military target on Kharg Island, but opted to leave the oil infrastructure alone.
A map showing Kharg Island. The island is about 7 square miles and sits roughly 20 miles off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf. (Noga Ami-rav/Stars and Stripes)
This week, Trump suggested the U.S. could go further.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” he said Monday in an interview with the Financial Times. “It would also mean we had to be there (on Kharg Island) for a while.”
In a post later Monday on his Truth Social website, Trump included Kharg Island on a list of Iranian targets he said he was considering “blowing up and completely obliterating” if Iran does not immediately open the Strait of Hormuz and agree to a peace deal.
The president’s comments come as the U.S. reportedly considers sending up to 10,000 additional troops to the region, adding to the thousands of Marines and sailors who have already arrived.
While a seizure would be a blow to Iran, it also could come at a great cost to U.S. forces, experts say.
“We could suffer, potentially, much larger numbers of casualties than we’ve suffered until now,” said Michael Eisenstadt, a former military analyst who now directs the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“It’s a very small island. It’s right off the coast. It will become a drone and missile magnet.”
An EA-18G Growler prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, March 21, 2026. (U.S. Navy)
Seizure would expose troops to more attacks
There is no guarantee that such an operation could deliver a decisive victory or shorten the war, wrote Ryan Brobst and Cameron McMillan, experts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in an analysis last week. In fact, they said, it would likely have the opposite effect.
Iran would likely launch mass attacks against U.S. forces during a seizure and any subsequent occupation, they said. As a result, the U.S. would need to protect troops with robust defense systems, which require a large number of personnel and would be difficult to quickly set up on the island.
Seizing Kharg Island would also require significant support from U.S. air and naval assets, which are already strained across several missions. Deploying warships and fighter jets so close to Iran would also leave them vulnerable to potentially deadly attacks from short-range weapons.
“Iran is currently limited to primarily using its diminishing long-range capabilities, but the U.S. placing troops on the island would allow Iran to employ much more of its arsenal,” Brobst and McMillan wrote.
Retired Gen. Joseph Votel, who served as the head of U.S. Central Command from 2016 to 2019, said the Marine units deployed in the region are capable of seizing the island, but doing so would require sustained protection, which could pull resources from other parts of the theater for long periods of time.
“We can do anything if we prioritize it,” said Votel, who is now a distinguished fellow at the Middle East Institute. “When you start putting troops on the ground, then you really become anchored in terms of the support that you have to provide them.”
Some, like Eisenstadt, have advocated for other options, including mining the waters around Kharg Island, which would prevent Iran from exporting oil and free up troops to do other missions in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. could also help establish its own blockade of oil tankers on the outside of the Strait of Hormuz, which would put similar economic pressure on Iran.
“There’s a lot of ways to skin this cat that involve less risk,” Eisenstadt said.
U.S. sailors and Marines aboard the USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East on Friday, March 27, 2025. (U.S. Central Command)
Marines, paratroopers head to Middle East
The Pentagon is surging troops to the region as it prepares for weeks of ground operations in Iran, The Washington Post reported over the weekend.
Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East on Friday, according to U.S. Central Command. The Tripoli is the flagship of its amphibious ready group and the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Marine Expeditionary Units, sometimes referred to as one of the military’s “Swiss Army knife” forces, are often used in missions that involve seizing territory, conducting raids and intercepting vessels.
The 31st MEU is one of seven in the Marines and features a combination of air, ground and support elements designed to quickly respond to combat and noncombat situations. The Tripoli can carry MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, F-35 fighter jets and a variety of helicopters.
The Pentagon is also sending elements of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based near San Diego, and elements of the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group to the region.
Nearly 2,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division were recently ordered to the Middle East. The soldiers are drawn from the unit’s quick-reaction brigade known as the Immediate Response Force, which is designed to mobilize anywhere in the world in 18 hours.
The units have a wide range of capabilities and give the combatant commander flexibility, Votel said.
“These are high-end units,” he said. “They carry a certain reputation that connotes readiness, that connotes aggressiveness, that connotes fighting success.”
News reports indicate the Pentagon could deploy additional forces, including infantry and armored units, to serve alongside the Marines and paratroopers.
The vast majority of Democrats in Congress have rejected the idea of a ground invasion, while Republicans remain split on the issue.
Some, like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, have pushed the president for troops on the ground, saying the U.S. can take Kharg the same way it took Iwo Jima in World War II, a battle that killed nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines.
“We did Iwo Jima, we can do this,” he told Fox News last week. “My money’s always on the Marines.”
