Invade baby, invade: Trump eyes Kharg Island, Iran's energy spigot
AP file photo The TOI correspondent from Washington. Donald Trump built a political movement around a simple proposition: America had spent too much blood and
AP file photo The TOI correspondent from Washington. Donald Trump built a political movement around a simple proposition: America had spent too much blood and money policing the world. The Iraq War was a "big, fat mistake." Afghanistan was an endless quagmire. Nation-building, he argued, had drained American power.Now, as a second term President, Trump is openly threatening one of the most audacious military moves contemplated by any modern American administration due to his frustration with Tehran not agreeing to a deal on his terms: seizing Iran's Kharg Island, the tiny but immensely strategic Persian Gulf outpost through which roughly 90 percent of Tehran's crude exports flow."The United States will be hitting Iran... VERY HARD TONIGHT," Trump declared in a social media post Thursday. "At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela."The rhetoric marked a stunning evolution in Trump's worldview — from ceasefire to “seize and fire,” from "America First" restraint to publicly discussing capturing another country's critical economic infrastructure.Speaking later on Fox News, Trump made clear that Kharg Island has long fascinated him as both a strategic and commercial prize."My preference has always been to take Kharg Island," he said, noting, after momentary reflection he is not famous for, "I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with it.
” And with money on his mind as always, he added, “You'd make a fortune."The Kharg island itself is small – roughly one-third the size of Manhattan – but its importance is enormous. Situated about 20 miles off Iran's coast, it serves as the beating heart of Iran's energy sector. Analysts estimate that about nine out of every ten barrels of Iranian crude exported to world markets pass through its terminals.Trump's proposal has found enthusiastic supporters among hawkish Republicans. Senator Lindsey Graham, of whom it is said he has never seen a war he hasn’t liked, argued that controlling Kharg could fundamentally alter the balance of power. "If there is no deal soon, Mr. President, you are right to put on the table the taking of Kharg Island," Graham wrote, describing the idea as "the ultimate game changer," and arguing that combining control of Kharg with freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz would restore American leverage.Others were even more blunt in recommending US overlordship. Retired General Keith Kellogg, a former Trump administration official, suggested that the US could simply tell the world: "You won't get any oil. We control the oil. We're the oil barons."Yet even some figures aligned with Trump's broader foreign policy instincts are sounding alarms.
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