In a Fox News interview, President Donald Trump said his preferred approach was to take Kharg Island, the Iranian export point that sits at the center of the country’s crude oil trade.
“My preference has always been — take Kharg Island,” Trump said. “I don’t know that America has the stomach for it.”
The profit language made the remark even more combustible as Trump added that taking the island could make “a fortune.”
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Kharg is because Iran’s oil system is highly concentrated there. Reuters reported in March that the island handles around 90% of Iran’s oil shipments and that Kharg had been handling roughly 1.55 million barrels per day out of 1.7 million barrels per day exported that year.
Kharg also sits inside the broader Gulf energy system, where disruptions do not stay local for long. The International Energy Agency says about 80% of oil and oil products that moved through the Strait of Hormuz in 2025 were headed to Asia, while more than 110 billion cubic meters of LNG also passed through the route that year.
The IEA’s May 2026 oil report said disruptions to seaborne trade through Hormuz helped draw down on-land stocks by 170 million barrels in April, with global observed inventories falling in both March and April.
The military question is just as unresolved. Reuters has separately reported that taking Kharg would expose US troops to risks including drones and mines. That means the island could become less a prize than a fixed target the US would have to protect.
Trump’s phrasing also creates a diplomatic problem. Washington has continued to discuss negotiations with Iran even as the president threatens heavier attacks and territorial seizure, with the US and Iran exchanging airstrikes for a second straight day while indirect talks were still active.
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