The China Mail - Kharg Island: Vital Iran oil hub in Trump's crosshairs

Announcing the strikes, US President Donald Trump described Kharg as a "crown jewel" for Iran and maintained that every military target on the island had been "totally obliterated".

The island, located around 30 kilometres (19 miles) off the Iranian mainland, is a hub for roughly 90 percent of Iran's crude exports, according to a JP Morgan note released earlier this month.

Analysts had warned an attack could have major repercussions for the now fortnight-long conflict between the US and Israel and Iran, which began with air strikes that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei on February 28.

Iranian strikes have all but halted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass -- and have also impacted oil infrastructure in other Gulf states.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that for "reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island."

But he warned: "However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision."

Ehsan Jahaniyan, deputy governor of Iran's southern Bushehr province, quoted by the IRNA news agency, said Saturday oil companies "at this export terminal are continuing as normal" and there were no casualties.

Kharg underwent key developments during Iran's oil expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, with much of the country's coast too shallow for supertankers.

Iran has looked to diversify its export capabilities by opening the Jask terminal outside the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint in the Gulf of Oman in 2021, but Kharg remains "a critical vulnerability" for Iran, JP Morgan said.

"It is a cornerstone of Iran's economy and a major source of revenue for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards," JP Morgan added, referring to Iran's well-resourced ideological army which has major economic interests.

- 'Very difficult' -

There had also been speculation among observers that were US ground forces to look to deploy inside Iran then Kharg would be an obvious first staging post.

Trump has given no indication that such a move could be forthcoming.

Farzin Nadimi, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Washington could move to seize the island when hostilities end, but that it was "not a wise move" during combat when Kharg is "almost an entire island of oil facilities and pipelines and tank farms".

"It is very difficult to wage a military operation on that particular island," he told AFP last week.

But other oil infrastructure could be in the crosshairs, with Trump repeatedly referencing his operation to topple Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and gain access to the country's oil reserves in January as a blueprint.

Iran -- the fourth-biggest crude producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) -- vowed not one litre of oil would be exported from the Gulf while the war continues.

Any attack on its infrastructure would get an "eye for an eye" response, it said.

V.Fan--ThChM