Why has the US targeted Iran’s Kharg Island?

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Alys Daviesand

Frank Gardner,BBC Security Correspondent, Riyadh

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Watch: Why Kharg Island is a lifeline for Iran

Donald Trump has said the US military has bombed a small island off the coast of Iran - home to a major oil terminal that is considered the country’s economic lifeline.

The US president said Kharg Island’s military facilities were “totally obliterated” but that it had held off targeting its oil infrastructure.

Trump however warned that he would reconsider the decision not to target oil facilities on the island should Iran or others “do anything to interfere” with the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world’s most important shipping channels, located south of Iran’s coast.

Iran’s military said oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms working with the US would “immediately be destroyed” should Kharg’s oil infrastructure be attacked.

Why is Kharg Island important to Iran?

Kharg Island is a small rocky outcrop just 15 nautical miles (24km) off the coast of Iran.

Despite its size, it is one of the most critical pieces of Iran’s energy infrastructure.

The US striking this small but vital island in the northern Gulf is like going for Iran’s economic jugular vein.

Ninety percent of Iran’s crude oil comes through a terminal on the island - transported through pipes from the mainland.

Very large tankers - capable of carrying up to 85 million gallons of oil - are able to come up to the island’s long jetties to pick up the oil. The island’s coast is close enough to deep waters, unlike the shallower coast of the mainland.

The tankers then come back down the Gulf and out of the Strait of Hormuz, to China - the main buyer of Iranian oil.

A terminal for the export of Iranian oil, the island provides a major source of revenue for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Why didn’t the US target the island’s oil facilities?

On Friday, Trump said the US Central Command had “executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island”.

He added that, “for reasons of decency”, he had “chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island”.

Iranian state media reported that no damage was done to the island’s oil facilities. The Fars news agency said US attacks targeted air defences, a naval base, airport control tower and a helicopter hangar.

The country’s military warned that oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms working with the US would “immediately be destroyed and turned into a pile of ashes” if its energy facilities were attacked.

Military action to destroy the island’s infrastructure would be hugely damaging to Iran.

It would also present a significant escalation to the conflict.

It would likely send global oil prices soaring even higher and could also lead to Iran targeting more oil infrastructure across the Middle East.

Two weeks into the war, Iran still has the capacity to launch large numbers of low-cost, high explosive drones at its Gulf Arab neighbours as well as at shipping vessels.

It could, potentially, expand those targets to include vital infrastructure like desalination plants that provide drinking water to millions.

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Justin Crump, a military analyst and former British Army officer, said the bombing was an attempt by Trump to deter Iran from escalating the conflict further.

“He’s showing it as being merciful but saying he could be more punishing to the IRGC” by targeting the oil facilities, Crump, who is also CEO of intelligence consultancy Sibylline, told BBC Radio 4’ s Today programme.

Trump previously stated that the aim of the war was so that Iran’s people could rise up and overthrow the Islamic Republic’s regime.

While he has since expressed other motivations for the war, Crump said targeting the island’s oil infrastructure was “difficult” as it would destroy the country’s economic lifeline for a long period of time.

“That doesn’t really say much for their [the Iranian people’s] future”, he said, adding that when the island’s oil infrastructure was destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, it took a long time to rebuild.

Will the US try to seize the island?

There has been speculation about whether US forces would at some point attempt to take over Kharg Island.

It seizure would not only choke off Iran’s oil exports but could also provide a platform from which to carry out attacks against the mainland.

US media reports that amphibious ships carrying up to 5,000 Marines and sailors are now being sent to the Gulf, adding to that speculation.

The Pentagon has declined to comment.

Taking the island would effectively cut off the IRGC’s economic lifeline, impacting its ability to be able to conduct war, security analyst Mikey Kay, from the BBC’s Security Brief, says.

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