WASHINGTON
\nPresident Donald Trump has intensified his rhetoric regarding a potential seizure of Iran\u2019s Kharg Island, vowing to take the major oil terminal in the \u201cnot too distant future\u201d to \u201cassume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.\u201d
\nWhile the president has used social media to escalate threats against the island, he has also acknowledged the complications of a ground invasion. In recent comments to Fox News, Trump stated his \u201cpreference\u201d would be to take the island to make a \u201cfortune\u201d for the US, but he questioned if the American people had \u201cthe stomach for it,\u201d adding that he \u201cdoes not want to have to put boots on the ground.\u201d
\nA critical energy lifeline Kharg Island is a small rocky outcrop located approximately 15 to 16 nautical miles off the Iranian coast. It serves as a vital economic hub, processing 90 percent of Iran\u2019s crude oil for export via deep-water jetties that can accommodate very large tankers.
\nThe BBC reports that \u201cNinety percent of Iran\u2019s crude oil comes through a terminal on the island,\u201d which provides a major source of revenue for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). However, Reuters notes that a seizure might not have an \u201cimmediate impact\u201d on the Iranian economy, as the country\u2019s oil exports have already been severely curtailed by the war that began Feb. 28.
\nMilitary strikes and spared infrastructure The US military has already conducted significant operations against the site. On March 13, the US launched what Trump described as \u201cone of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East,\u201d claiming to have \u201ctotally obliterated\u201d every military target on the island.
\nUS Central Command (Centcom) confirmed that while more than 90 military targets were struck\u2014 including naval mine storage and missile bunkers\u2014 the oil infrastructure was intentionally preserved \u201cfor reasons of decency\u201d and to avoid long-term economic damage. Trump noted that while he has held off on destroying the pipelines, he could do so on \u201cfive minutes\u2019 notice.\u201d According to the BBC, Iranian state media reported that the March attacks targeted air defenses, a naval base, an airport control tower, and a helicopter hangar, but failed to stop oil exports.
\nStrategic risks and troop vulnerability Military analysts warn that a physical seizure of the island would be \u201cchallenging.\u201d Experts Ryan Brobst and Cameron McMillan of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Reuters that an occupation \u201cis more likely to expand and extend the war than it is to deliver any sort of decisive victory.\u201d
\nJoseph Votel, a former commander of US Central Command, told TWZ.com that while 800 to 1,000 troops could hold the island, they would require massive logistical backup and remain \u201cvery vulnerable.\u201d Furthermore, analysts warn that US troops would be exposed to \u201ccamera-wielding\u201d drones, which the Iranian regime could use to broadcast \u201cthe graphic deaths of American service members as propaganda.\u201d
\nIranian defenses and threats of retaliation Iran has responded to the threats by reinforcing its defenses. The BBC reports that Tehran has deployed additional military personnel, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, and \u201ctraps,\u201d including anti-personnel and anti-armor mines, in the surrounding waters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has intensified his rhetoric regarding a potential seizure of Iran\u2019s Kharg Island, vowing to take the major oil terminal in the \u201cnot too distant future\u201d to \u201cassume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.\u201d While the president has used social media to escalate threats against the island, he has also …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":99010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99042,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99030\/revisions\/99042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}