The islands off Iran have become the latest focus of the war after a US strike on Friday destroyed military sites on Kharg Island, which is vital to Iran’s oil network.
The US attack on the Persian Gulf island left its oil infrastructure intact, but President Donald Trump warned that if Iran or anyone else interferes with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, he will reconsider his decision not to erase it.
Although they represent only a small part of Iran’s territory, the islands are of enormous importance due to their oil facilities and strategic location.
Here’s what you should know about Iran’s islands in the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz:
Kharg Island
The small coral island about 21 miles (33 kilometers) off the coast of Iran is the main terminal through which almost all of Iran’s oil exports pass. Iran has exported 13.7 million barrels since the war began, and satellite images on Wednesday showed several tankers loading in Kharg, according to TankerTrackers.com, a maritime intelligence company.
Iran derives a significant portion of its revenue from oil, with shipments flowing to countries such as China. An attack on Kharg would not only damage Iran’s current government but could also undermine the viability of anything that might eventually replace it.
The island has storage tanks in the south, as well as housing for thousands of workers. Gazelles roam freely near the refineries and warehouses that make Kharg one of Iran’s most valuable (and sensitive) assets.
Petras Katinas, an energy researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, said Kharg Island was critical to funding Iran’s government and military.
If Iran lost control of Kharg, it would be difficult for the country to function, even though the island is not a military or nuclear target, he said.
“It doesn’t matter which regime is in power: the new or the old,” Katinas said. An acquisition would give the United States leverage in negotiations with Iran because the island is “the main node” of its economy.
JPMorgan’s global commodities research team warned in an investment note this week that a strike on the island would have significant economic implications.
Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb
The three small islands have long been a front line of tensions between Iran and US-allied Gulf states.
Iranian forces seized the islands in November 1971, days after the United Kingdom withdrew from the Gulf and just before the sheikhs united to form the United Arab Emirates. Iran maintains military assets and garrisons on the islands.
The territorial dispute over the islands remains one of the Gulf’s most persistent flashpoints.
Qeshm Island
The largest island in the Persian Gulf is located near the Strait of Hormuz and is home to about 150,000 residents. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States attacked a desalination plant on the island on March 8, a claim not acknowledged by Washington.
“Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with serious consequences,” Araghchi warned in a March 7 post on X. “The United States set this precedent, not Iran.”
The desalination plant supplies water to about 30 villages.
In Bahrain – home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet – the Interior Ministry said an Iranian drone had “caused material damage” to a desalination plant there the following day, although the water supply was never interrupted.
This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Ken Sweet in New York contributed.
