Where is Kharg Island – and why it is significant?
Kharg is a tiny Iranian outpost used as the country’s main oil export terminal. The island’s deepwater port handles the export of up to 90 per cent of Iran’s oil products and provides storage facilities for up to 30 million barrels of oil.
Is Trump serious about taking over the island?
The arrival of US ground invasion forces in the Middle East over the weekend provides Donald Trump with the firepower for an attempt to take over the island.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.”
Kharg is deep inside the Gulf, well past the Strait of Hormuz, adding logistical difficulty and vulnerability for US soldiers.
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How many US troops are there?
A total of about 50,000 US troops are in the Middle East. The arrival of 2,500 Marines specialised in amphibious landings and 2,000 other sailors means there are roughly 10,000 more troops than usual.
Ruben Stewart, a senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Guardian the deployment may just be a show of force to strengthen the US negotiating position, as it would be tough to hold any island for more than a few days.
The numbers are well short of requirements for a significant land operation – about 150,000 troops were deployed in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and Iran’s territory is more than three times that size.
How risky would such an operation be?
US officials have warned there would be significant casualties during such an operation because they would be a target for a barrage of drone and missile strikes. Already, 13 US soldiers have been killed and 300 wounded in the four-week war; these numbers could mount exponentially.
Is Kharg Island well protected by Iran?
Anticipating a US attempt to occupy Kharg, Iran is believed to have laid anti-personnel and anti-armour mines on the coast where US troops could mount an amphibious landing. Shoulder-fired, surface-to-air guided missile systems – aimed at countering parachute landings from war planes – are another threat.
How would Iranian military units respond to a US operation?
Iran has warned it will bomb its own territory and infrastructure to kill any US soldiers on its soil.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned: “Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all.”
