Report: White House Considering a Raid to Seize Kharg Island

Oil slicks emanate from the terminal complex at Kharg Island (file image courtesy NASA) — Thin oil slicks emanate from the terminal complex at Kharg Island (file image courtesy NASA)

The Trump administration is contemplating a series of special forces operations inside of Iran, potentially including a raid to seize Kharg Island, according to Axios. Kharg is home to the crude loading port at the heart of Iran's oil export industry.

Kharg Island is located at the far northern end of the Arabian Gulf, opposite Kuwait and about 20 nautical miles off the coast of mainland Iran. It handles the overwhelming majority of Iran's crude exports, and by nameplate capacity, it is rated for moving far more than current Iranian national output. Its primary customers are privately-held refineries in China, which consume the overwhelming majority of Iranian oil.

Kharg Island has a strategic location next to the shipping lanes for Iraq and Kuwait. Officials who spoke to Axios mentioned Kharg in the context of a campaign to retrieve Iran's high-enriched uranium fuel supply from the tunnel complex at Isfahan, which was buried by previous U.S. strikes last year. Seizing Kharg Island could yield a useful refueling point for this and other special-ops incursions into Iranian territory, and for exercising control over the region's sea lanes.

Iran is unlikely to be able to mount an effort to retake the island in the near term: the U.S. has established air superiority along the coast, and conventional Iranian naval forces have been substantially destroyed by concerted action from U.S. Central Command. Last week, CENTCOM claimed that it has sunk more than 30 Iranian warships since the conflict began.

The ultimate goal, according to former Lockheed marketing executive Jarrod Agen, now the director of the National Energy Dominance Council, is to take control of Iran's oil.

"Ultimately, we’re not going to have to worry about these issues in the Strait of Hormuz because we’re going to get all of the oil out of the hands of terrorists," Agen said in an interview on Fox Business.

Almost all of Iran's oil production occurs on land in mainland provinces, and full control of the infrastructure would require more thorough intervention (political or military) than the capture of Kharg Island alone.