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How a US assault on Kharg Island could unfold

Seizing Iran’s oil export hub by sea or air would choke the regime but risks dragging American troops into an open-ended conflict.

Members of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) disembarking from an MV-22B Osprey during training in Okinawa, Japan, in 2025.

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The American troops approach Kharg Island, flying low on tilt-rotor aircraft and helicopters. Upon landing, they fan out over the vital oil export hub, all under Iranian fire.

The troops stick close to the island’s oil infrastructure for cover, confronting the Iranian regime with an extraordinary dilemma: destroy the oil facilities to get at them? Or hold back, allowing Washington to take control of the country’s economic backbone?

Such a scenario could play out in the coming weeks as the US weighs whether to take Kharg Island, where 90 per cent of the Islamic republic’s oil is loaded onto tankers.

US President Donald Trump said this week that he hoped to strike a deal with Iran to end the hostilities. But, with thousands of US Marines en route and paratroopers set to deploy to the region, seizing Kharg Island is an option under consideration by Washington to gain leverage over the Iranian regime if the war escalates.