US Hits 50 Targets on Kharg Island

90% of Iran’s crude oil exports go through Kharg Island, located in the Persian Gulf to the northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. If Kharg Island were seized by the Americans, so that no more Iranian oil could be exported through it, that would cripple Iran’s economy. Though in March, the U.S. had engaged in bombing military targets on the island, it was not until Tuesday, April 7 that a serious bombing campaign on its energy infrastructure took place, with fifty sites being hit. This looks as if it is the second installment in America’s softening-up attack, designed to destroy any potential resistance on the island to a possible American takeover. More on this Kharg Island attack can be found here: “US has struck Iranian military targets on Kharg Island. Here’s what we know about it,” by Billy Stockwell, CNN, April 7, 2026:

The US said it struck military targets on the key Iranian oil export hub of Kharg Island, although the strikes did not target oil facilities, according to one US official.

Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the recent US strikes on Kharg Island but said they did not mark “a change in strategy” ahead of President Donald Trump’s 8 p.m. ET Tuesday night deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

The US had previously struck Kharg Island in March. US Central Command said at the time that 90 targets had been hit, including “naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites.”

Kharg Island, a coral outcrop off Iran’s coast, has been an economic lifeline for Tehran that handles roughly 90% of the country’s crude oil exports….

Kharg Island is a five-mile stretch of land off the Iranian coast around a third of the size of Manhattan, described by US officials as the “nexus for all the Iranian oil supply.”

Its long jetties jutt into waters that are deep enough to accommodate oil supertankers, making the island a critical site for oil distribution.

The island has long been key to Iran’s economy. A declassified CIA document from 1984 published online said the facilities are “the most vital in Iran’s oil system, and their continued operation is essential to Iran’s economic well-being.”…

Last month, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said destroying the terminal would “cripple Iran’s economy and topple the regime.” He declared that Israel “must destroy all of Iran’s oil fields and energy industry on Kharg Island.”…

It looks as if Yair Lapid’s wish has been granted, only in this case it is not the Israelis (who are doing quite a lot of damage elsewhere to Iran’s military assets) but the Americans who are now destroying Iran’s hold on Kharg Island.

But as far back as 1988, decades before he was elected, Trump has talked about invading the island.

“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,” he told The Guardian in an interview at the time.

So almost four decades ago, long before he became president for the first time, Trump was already thinking about Kharg Island, and of a possible takeover (“I’d go right in”) of the island.

This extensive bombing campaign on Kharg Island, with fifty military sites hit already within a single day, is designed to weaken Iran’s control of the island prior to an American invasion. Not only will American control of Kharg halt 90% of Iranian oil exports, thus “totally bankrupting” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that is the main beneficiary of those exports, but with control of Kharg Island, the Americans will have the best possible base from which tow rest control of the Strait of Hormuz from Iran.