WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran, potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz, though President Donald Trump has not yet approved any deployment, the Washington Post reported Saturday. Any ground operation would stop short of a <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-could-take-out-irans-kharg-island-any-time-white-house" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">full-scale invasion</a>, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Friday the United States &quot;can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops,&quot; but the Post said planning is advanced, with one official saying: &quot;This is not last-minute planning.&quot;

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on March 19, 2026. (AFP)

Middle East

Any ground operation would stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials.

Pentagon preparing for ground operations in Iran: report

WASHINGTON: The United States could &quot;take out&quot; Iran&#39;s Kharg island whenever it wanted, the White House said Friday, after a report that President Donald Trump&#39;s administration was considering plans to occupy or blockade the oil hub. Axios reported that Trump was mulling an operation against Kharg to pressure the Islamic Republic to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial shipping lane that Tehran has largely blocked. The United States is at the same time deploying additional Marines to the Middle East, US media reported, possibly signaling a coming ground operation three weeks into the US-Israeli campaign. &quot;The United States Military can take out Kharg Island at any time if the President gives the order,&quot; White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly wrote in a statement to AFP when asked about the Axios report. &quot;Thanks to a detailed planning process, the entire administration is and was prepared for any potential action taken by the terrorist Iranian regime,&quot; added Kelly. &quot;President Trump knew full well that Iran would try to stop the freedom of navigation and free flow of energy, and he has already taken action to destroy over 40 minelaying vessels.&quot; An effective Iranian blockade has paralyzed commercial shipping through the crucial maritime chokepoint, contributing to the spike in global oil prices since the start of the war on February 28. Trump said the United States had &quot;totally obliterated&quot; all military targets on Kharg in strikes on Friday, threatening to hit the island&#39;s infrastructure if Iran keeps blocking the Strait of Hormuz. On Thursday, the US leader called Kharg, which handles almost all of Iran&#39;s crude exports, the &quot;little oil island that sits there, so totally unprotected&quot; and said US strikes had &quot;taken out everything but the pipes.&quot;

Americas

US could 'take out' Iran's Kharg Island any time: White House

Web Desk/AFP

United Arab Emirates has the right to defend itself against Iran's ongoing strikes but chooses restraint, a senior UAE official said, as Tehran continues its retaliatory attacks across the Gulf

All you need to know about Day 15 of US-Israeli war on Iran

PARIS: Kharg Island, a scrubby stretch of land in the northern Gulf, handles almost all of Iran&#39;s crude&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/hormuz-crisis-as-iran-war-disrupts-global-oil-supply-and-fuel-prices" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">exports</a>&nbsp;and any attempt to seize it would mark a major escalation in the conflict, analysts say. The US and Israel have so far trodden carefully around the island, but an Axios report over the weekend cited Trump administration officials saying capturing Kharg was on the table as the war in the Middle East persists. The island, located around 30 kilometres off the Iranian mainland, handles roughly 90% of Iran&#39;s crude exports, according to a JP Morgan note released Sunday. Any move on the territory, which is about one-third the size of Manhattan, would have swift repercussions, experts say. &quot;A direct strike would immediately halt the bulk of Iran&#39;s crude exports, likely triggering severe retaliation in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/oil-water-and-internet-how-strait-of-hormuz-controls-global-economy" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Strait of Hormuz</a>&nbsp;or against regional energy infrastructure,&quot; JP Morgan said. The Middle East War has all but halted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz &ndash; through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass &ndash; and has also impacted oil infrastructure in other Gulf states. But Iranian energy assets have not been degraded so far and targeting the island would be &quot;a very risky move&quot;, Farzin Nadimi, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told AFP. Iran is not only &quot;experienced in using alternatives&quot; in wartime, it could &quot;cause a lot more damage on the Gulf oil and gas installations if they want to and they can do a lot more very quickly, and everybody knows that&quot;. &quot;I don&#39;t think that seizing the island will go any further than US Congressional debates,&quot; he added, the prospect having been discussed in Washington since the hostage crisis that started in 1979 during the foundation of the current regime. Kharg underwent key developments during Iran&#39;s oil expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, with much of the country&#39;s coast too shallow for supertankers. Iran has&nbsp;sought to diversify its export capabilities by opening the Jask terminal outside the Strait of Hormuz&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/oil-shock-from-iranus-conflict-sends-economic-ripples-through-pakistan" target="_blank">chokepoint</a>&nbsp;in the Gulf of Oman in 2021, but Kharg remains &quot;a critical vulnerability&quot; for Iran, JP Morgan said. &quot;It is a cornerstone of Iran&#39;s economy and a major source of revenue for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,&quot; JP Morgan added. &#39;Very difficult&#39; The war has sent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/asia-stocks-down-sharply-as-oil-hits-100" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">oil prices</a>&nbsp;soaring, although US President Donald Trump&#39;s suggestion on Monday that the conflict could end soon has calmed the market. Over the weekend, the director of the White House National Energy Dominance Council, Jarrod Agen, told Fox News that &quot;what we want to do is get such massive oil reserves in Iran out of the hands of terrorists&quot;. In recent days, the Washington Post reported heightened speculation that US ground forces could be preparing to deploy, citing analysts who said Kharg Island would be an early target. Nadimi said Washington could move to seize the island when hostilities end, but that it was &quot;not a wise move&quot; during combat when Kharg is &quot;almost an entire island of oil facilities and pipelines and tank farms&quot;. &quot;It is very difficult to wage a military operation on that particular island,&quot; he said. But other oil infrastructure could be in the crosshairs, with Trump repeatedly referencing his operation to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and gain access to the country&#39;s oil reserves in January as a blueprint. Iran &ndash; the fourth-biggest crude producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/opec-backs-market-stability-as-iran-rules-out-hormuz-closure" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">OPEC</a>) &ndash; vowed not one liter of oil would be exported from the Gulf while the war continues. Any attack on its infrastructure would get an &quot;eye for an eye&quot; response, it said. On Saturday, Israel launched its first attack of the war on oil facilities in Iran, but it said they were used &quot;to operate military infrastructure&quot;. The same day, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid argued for stronger steps, saying in an X post: &quot;Israel needs to destroy all of Iran&#39;s oil fields and energy industry on Kharg Island; that&#39;s what will crush Iran&#39;s economy and bring down the regime.&quot;

This handout satellite image taken by 2026 Planet Labs PBC shows a view of Iran's Kharg Island, which hosts the country’s main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world, (AFP)

Kharg Island handles about 90% of Iran’s crude exports, making it a critical energy hub. Analysts warn any attempt to seize or strike the island could escalate the war and disrupt global oil supplies.

Articles tagged with "Kharg Island"

Pentagon preparing for ground operations in Iran: report

US could 'take out' Iran's Kharg Island any time: White House

All you need to know about Day 15 of US-Israeli war on Iran

Kharg Island: Iran's vital oil hub in the crosshairs?