Axios: Trump team weighs up seizing Iran's Kharg Island to unblock Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump's administration is weighing up the idea of occupying or blockading Iran's strategically important Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf in order to force Tehran to unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

Source: Axios, citing sources, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Four anonymous sources say that officials in the Trump administration are discussing plans to occupy or impose a naval blockade on Iran's Kharg Island in an attempt to compel Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt further increases in global energy prices.

Facilities on Kharg Island account for about 90% of Iran's oil exports.

Such an operation would place US forces in a more dangerous environment, so it is being considered only after the United States further depletes the forces and capabilities Iran possesses in the Strait of Hormuz area.

"We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, take the island and then get them by the balls and use it for negotiations," a source with knowledge of the White House's thinking said.

Taking control of Kharg would also require deploying additional US troops. Three Marine units are already being sent to the region. According to one source, the White House and the Pentagon are considering dispatching even more personnel.

"He [Trump] wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that's going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that's going to happen. But that decision hasn't been made," a senior administration official told Axios.

"We've always had boots on the ground in conflicts under every president, including Trump. I know this is a fixation in the media, and I get the politics, but the president is going to do what's right," a second senior official said, adding no decision had been made.

Last Friday, US forces had already carried out large-scale strikes on dozens of military targets on Kharg.

Trump himself referred to Kharg on Thursday 19 March as a small island that is completely undefended, saying the US had taken out everything there except the pipelines.

Background:

• According to recent polling, only 7% of Americans support a US ground operation in Iran.
• In recent days, Iran has struck oil and gas facilities belonging to neighbouring Gulf states in retaliation for a strike by Israel on one of its key oil fields, triggering another surge in oil prices.
• Prior to that, oil exports from Gulf countries had largely halted due to the danger posed to tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that previously was handling up to 20% of global oil exports.
• French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris is exploring options to reopen the Strait of Hormuz through action at the United Nations level.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Germany could join a mission in the Strait of Hormuz if it receives an international mandate and is coordinated with the Gulf states.
• Trump has for some time been criticising European countries for their reluctance to intervene more actively alongside the US, including in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

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