Here's What Trump Has Said About Seizing Iran's Key Oil Hub Kharg Island
· Time
President Donald Trump has threatened to escalate the war by “blowing up and completely obliterating” Iran’s electric generating plants, oil wells, and its key oil terminal, Kharg Island.
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“Great progress” has been made in talks to end the war, Trump said Monday morning, but he warned of grave action ahead if a “deal is not shortly reached” and if the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway “is not immediately open for business.”
Trump said the U.S. military action, if carried out, would be “in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old regime’s 47-year reign of terror.”
The U.S. President’s threat comes as oil continues to be used as a geopolitical bargaining chip in the Iran war which is in its 31st day.
Since the first U.S.-Israeli strikes killed former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28, Iran has retaliated by targeting oil refineries and other key production infrastructure across the Gulf region. But most pivotal of all has been Iran’s effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which around a fifth of global oil production flows.
Trump has previously threatened Iran to reopen the Strait, but the crossing remains largely unstable.
Oil and gas prices have surged as a result of the key transit route coming to a halt, with the impact being felt across the globe. The price of brent crude oil hit $115 per barrel Monday morning. Prior to the Iran war, the price sat at around $72 per barrel. U.S. gas stations have been impacted, with gasoline prices now at a national average of $3.99 per gallon.
Trump’s threat Monday morning to "obliterate" Kharg Island if a deal is not reached comes after he has referenced seizing the key oil terminal on a number of occasions.
A takeover of the island would require ground troops, and would likely dramatically escalate the war, as Iran has previously warned that any invasion of its islands would “shatter all restraint” and result in bloodshed.
Here’s a breakdown of what Trump has previously said about Kharg Island and why the oil hub is of such strategic importance:
Trump says the U.S. could “take” Kharg Island
Amid heightened tensions with Iran, Trump said the U.S. could “take” the island.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday.
The seizing of the island would involve troops on the ground and would require the U.S. military “to be there for a while,” Trump added.
The U.S. President said his “preference would be to take the oil,” referencing the U.S. control over oil sales in Venezuela.
“To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” he claimed.
Trump targets “Iran’s crown jewel” in strikes and threatens more action
On March 13, Trump announced the U.S. had “executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East” and had “totally obliterated every military target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.”
He confirmed that the oil infrastructure on the island remained in place, but threatened to reconsider his decision “not to wipe [it] out” should certain conditions not be met.
In an interview the following day, Trump said “we may hit” Kharg Island “a few more times, just for fun.”
Trump threatens to destroy oil pipes “with one simple word”
“We destroyed everything on the island except for the area where the oil is… we didn't want to do that, but we will do that,” Trump said at a press conference on March 16, again threatening further military action.
Trump said the decision to avoid strikes on oil infrastructure was for the “purposes of someday rebuilding that country” and remarked that he guessed “we did the right thing.”
But he was clear his position could change. “Just one simple word and the pipes will be gone too, but it will take a long time to rebuild that,” he warned.
Trump said he would “do a number on Kharg Island” in a decades-old interview
Trump expressed interest in Kharg Island years before he held the presidency.
During a 1988 interview with the Guardian, the then-famous businessman hinted at political aspirations, stating: “If I want to be President, then I’ll be President.”
When asked how he would deal with Iran as Commander-in-Chief, Trump said: “I’d be harsh on Iran. They’ve been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools.”
He went on to say: “One bullet shot at one of our men or ships and I’d do a number on Kharg Island. I’d go in and take it. Iran can’t even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It’d be good for the world to take them on.”
During much of the 1980s, Iran and Iraq were at war and targeted each other’s oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. While several vessels were destroyed and sunk during the so-called Tanker War, the impact on the global economy and oil supply was not nearly as severe as the current conflict, experts told TIME.
When asked about his 1988 comments on March 13, Trump told Fox News radio that seizing Kharg Island was “not high on the list” but emphasized he could change his mind.
“Let's say I was gonna do it, or let's say I wasn't gonna do it. What would I say to you?" he said.
Infographic with satellite images of the Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and Kharg island, a vital hub for Iran's crude oil exports. —Graphic by Omar Kamal and Gal Roma—Getty ImagesWhy is Kharg Island so strategically important?
Located around 15 miles off Iran’s coast in the Persian Gulf, Kharg Island serves as the main terminal for Iran’s oil exports.
Net oil export revenue for the island was worth around $53 billion in 2025, making up 11% of Iran's annual GDP, according to one analyst. TIME has been unable to independently verify these figures.
The island's deepwater ports allow oil tankers to dock at the terminal to load and then export Iranian oil. Along Iran’s coastline, deepwater ports are hard to come by, making Kharg Island vastly important.
If the U.S. were to strike and destroy the island's energy infrastructure, it would likely "invite massive Iranian retaliation on the energy infrastructure of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, beyond what we have seen so far," Amir Handjani, a resident fellow at the Quincy Institute, told TIME.