United States ruler Donald Trump said that the U.S. military could seize Kharg Island on Monday, even as Iran has allowed twenty American oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump shared a video on Truth Social on Monday showing a military strike in Iran at night.
Kharg Island is home to a major oil terminal that is considered the country’s economic lifeline. In an interview with the Financial Times, as reported by The BBC on Sunday, Trump said he wants to “take” Iran’s oil and was considering seizing Kharg Island. But he added an operation “would mean we had to be there for a while”.
The U.S. had already targeted the island earlier during the war. On March 13th, the U.S. launched airstrikes on Kharg, with Trump saying U.S. forces had “totally obliterated” every military target there. But it held off targeting the island’s oil infrastructure.
Back in 2025, Trump also claimed that the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities. Perhaps he’s simply unaware of what the word “obliterated” means.
Trump: “A Spectacular Military Success”; Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been “Completely & Totally Obliterated”
Trump did claim that it would be very easy to take the island in the interview with FT. “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options.”
“It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while… I don’t think they have any defense. We could take it very easily,” Trump was quoted as saying.
Both the Pentagon and the White House have declined to comment on specific troop deployments or potential plans – but have repeatedly made clear that the option is available.
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Diplomacy is likely to fail as Iran has signaled that it won’t give up as easily as the U.S. would prefer. Trump could initiate the takeover of Kharg island, espcially because it is starting to look like this war in Iran is over oil, much like his “regime change” in Venezuela.