Kharg Island: Iran’s ‘untouched’ oil artery?

To bomb or not to bomb Kharg Island? To launch or launch a ground invasion? These questions seem to preoccupy American and Israeli military planners right now.

Kharg Island, about 20 square kilometers near the port city of Bushehr, accounts for the majority of Iran’s oil exports.

Taking it out would take seconds and would devastate the Iranian economy for decades to come.

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Yet the Trump administration has been reluctant about how to launch an attack on the tiny atoll.

According to several news outlets, the Trump administration is currently discussing how to deal with Kharg Island.

Give up?

Although former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid made it clear last week that “all of Iran’s oil fields and energy industry on Kharg Island” must be destroyed if Israel and the US ever hope to topple the sitting regime, all attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure have so far been avoided.

But why? Especially most experts agree on the strategic importance of Kharg Island.

Neil Quilliam, a Gulf energy expert at think-tank Chatham House, described the island as the “crown jewel” of Iran’s oil industry.

Sonia Martínez-Giron, executive director of the International Team for Security Verona (ITSS) studies, confirmed the indisputable value of the Kharg to Iran: “It accounts for 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports and is the artery connecting the Iranian economy to the global economy”.

According to Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, “Kharg is one of the few places where a strike could have immediate strategic and economic consequences.”

Scott Lucas, professor of international politics at Dublin University, said seizing the island would be “the equivalent of trying to seize every tanker in Russia’s (shadow) fleet”.

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The rise of the Iranian lifeline

So how did Kharg Island become a major oil hub in the first place?

The island was initially developed as Iran’s major crude oil export terminal by the Khark Chemical Company, an American-Iranian joint venture under the former Shah in the 1960s. More infrastructure was added to the island under Ayatollah Khamenei’s more than four-decade rule. Today, it is completely enclosed in terminals, pipelines and storage tanks.

Location is the main reason why Iran has concentrated its precious oil exports to Kharg Island.

“Because of the shallow waters of the Gulf, large tankers cannot berth near inland,” Quilliam explained. “They have to offload and unload from a deep port, and that’s only really available on Kharg Island.”

“The result is a dense concentration of energy infrastructure, making the island one of the most strategically sensitive points in the global oil network,” wrote Geographical Magazine, a publication belonging to the Royal Geographical Society.

One of the best-preserved sites in Iran

Before Western sanctions were imposed because of Iran’s nuclear program, oil companies around the world used to source crude oil from Kharg Island. This is particularly important for French energy giant Total.

Over time, the island became so important to Iran that it became a priority target during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. Already, Kharg Island was in the crosshairs of its enemies because its destruction would weaken Iran economically.

The war destroyed most of the facilities on the island, and after it ended, Iran prioritized rebuilding them.

Since then, Kharg Island has been one of the best preserved sites in Iran.

But, as Quilliam notes, “if the US or Israel want to launch strikes against it, they have the ability to do so”.

So why shouldn’t they?

What is holding the US and Israel back? For one, Lucas explained, it represents a major escalation of the conflict.

“You hit Kharg and the Iranian regime is going to say: ‘Look, we have nothing to lose by losing everything.’ And that means choking the straits. This means following refineries across the Middle East.

Second, because it will not only hurt Iran.

“Global oil prices just reached historic highs,” Martinez-Giron said. “Seizing Kharg Island at a moment like this would be the last blow to Iran’s economy and would have consequences beyond this war, affecting the global economy and security.”

“Kharg Island highlights the interconnectedness of the energy sector with food systems,” he said, pointing to the relationship between transportation costs and food costs.

“It is hard to see how a decision like this could harm the regime without harming human security.”

Quilliam noted that Washington may want to avoid bombing the island because if it manages to replace the current leadership, “a successor administration will have to manage Kharg Island. It’s vital to the success of any successor, in terms of the money it generates”.

What about ground invasion?

This is why an attempt to capture rather than destroy the facilities on Kharg Island through a ground invasion may be an option.

But experts France 24 spoke to are skeptical that this is a serious debate.

“As for the rumors about the US ground operation, I treat them with caution,” Krieg said. “A landing operation here would be a major escalation. It would mean physically taking or neutralizing a strategic island off the Iranian coast while being exposed to Iranian missiles, drones and naval retaliation. That would be a bigger step than airstrikes.”

Martinez-Giron said a third, less reported, option may be on the table.

“We are waiting to see if there will be sabotage and cyber attacks that will affect the oil infrastructure on the island. This will obviously choke the Iranian economy without military involvement.”

This article was adapted from an original in French by Louis Nordstrom.