President Trump said the U.S. military "totally obliterated" every military target on Kharg Island during large-scale precision strikes Friday, thrusting the strategic small isle into the global spotlight.
Just 20 miles off Iran's northern Gulf coast, Kharg Island is Iran's hub for oil exports and a key bargaining chip Trump plans to use to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and safe.
The president said U.S. forces avoided the island's oil export infrastructure, but warned Iran that if they "do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision."
Here's what to know about the heavily fortified island and why it is strategically valuable.
What is Kharg Island?
Kharg Island lies roughly 20 miles off Iran's northern Gulf coast. For decades, it has served as Iran's main oil export terminal, historically handling 85–95% of the country's crude exports.
Tankers load up on the island before heading through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. If the island's loading facilities were knocked out, Iran's ability to export oil would collapse almost immediately. Oil revenue, earned mainly by selling crude to China, remains one of the Islamic Republic's most important sources of funding.
Strikes on the oil infrastructure would be a massive escalation in the war that could send global oil markets into a panic, and threats to the island would pressure Tehran's energy system.
How could strikes threaten Iran's energy system?
Iran has been threatening the world's energy markets by keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed to most traffic, but the strikes on Kharg Island show the U.S. can affect Iran.
National security analyst Aaron MacLean told CBS Saturday Morning that Mr. Trump has shown he has leverage if Iran keeps the Strait closed. About 20% of the world's oil supplies pass through the waterway.
"The president has linked the vulnerability of Kharg Island to Iran's continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz," MacLean said.
Oil and gas prices have soared since the war began. A release of 172 million barrels from the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve failed to calm investors, and the price of a barrel of crude oil rose above $100 for the first time in years on Thursday.
Kharg Island has been a target before
This isn't the first time Kharg Island has been at the center of a war. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi aircraft to repeatedly bomb the island in an attempt to choke off Iran's oil revenue. The facilities were badly damaged, but Iran kept repairing them and exports continued.
Since then, Tehran has fortified Kharg heavily, building air defenses, hardened infrastructure and underground storage designed to keep oil flowing even under sustained attack.
While Iran cannot match the United States or Israel in conventional military terms, it has spent decades preparing for asymmetric war. If Kharg Island were seriously threatened, Tehran would likely respond across multiple fronts. Iran's military could continue to strike U.S. bases across the Gulf, increase attacks by allied militias in Iraq and elsewhere, and keep striking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz using fast attack boats, naval mines and suicide drones.
Iran's response would not defeat a superior military force head-on, but would make operating in the Gulf painful and expensive.
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