Why Trump has left this tiny island untouched in Iran war: 'America's red line'

The handout satellite image courtesy of Vantor shows an overview of the Ahvaz drone base in southwestern Iran on March 8, 2026, following an airstrike. (File photo used for representation)

• Kharg Island is Iran's main oil export hub, vital to its economy.
• US and Israel avoid striking Kharg to prevent escalation, oil shocks.
• Kharg Island's oil terminal still operational despite air strikes.

Did our AI summary help?

US has waged an all-out war against Iran, targeting its nuclear installations, oil facilities and other strategic assets. However, a tiny coral island in the northern Gulf has remained untouched in the war so far. Notably, it is one of the most sensitive and vulnerable targets in the escalating conflict.

Kharg Island, located about 25 km off Iran’s coast, is the country’s principal crude oil export terminal and handles the vast majority of its oil shipments. Despite days of air strikes across Iran, the island’s facilities appear to be operating, Financial Times reported.

Analysts say the reason is simple: hitting Kharg could cripple Iran’s economy — but it could also trigger a major escalation and shock global oil markets.

US-Israel war with Iran: Live updates

Iran’s oil lifeline

The island, only a few kilometres long, has served as Iran’s main export hub since the 1960s when it was built by US oil company Amoco, the report said.

Today it is capable of loading up to 7 million barrels of oil a day, making it the backbone of Iran’s crude exports. Its importance to the Iranian economy is hard to overstate.

“The economy bottoms out without it,” Richard Nephew, a former US deputy special envoy for Iran, told the Financial Times.

Because much of Iran’s coastline is too shallow for the world’s largest oil tankers, Kharg Island has become a crucial export point. About nine out of every 10 barrels of Iranian oil sold abroad are loaded there.

The terminal’s infrastructure is also highly concentrated and exposed — dozens of storage tanks clustered on the southern side of the island and long jetties stretching into deep water to load supertankers.

Subsea pipelines link the island to some of Iran’s largest oilfields on the mainland.

Oil flows continue despite war

Satellite imagery suggests the terminal remained active even after the latest strikes.

According to Bloomberg, a very-large crude carrier capable of transporting about 2 million barrels of oil was docked at one of Kharg’s loading jetties on March 2, two days after US and Israeli air strikes began. However, the number of tankers around the island has dropped sharply.

Satellite data showed only four very-large crude carriers near the export terminal, compared with 10 VLCCs and several other tankers seen around the island in late February.

Analysts say Iranian tankers often stop transmitting location signals until they reach the Strait of Malacca — a tactic commonly used to conceal the final destination of cargoes.

A major escalation risk

Despite being one of the most obvious economic targets, Washington has historically drawn a red line around attacking Kharg.

Experts say the US and Israel fear such a strike could provoke Iran into retaliating against the oil infrastructure of Gulf states.

“That would be a significant escalation,” Nephew said.

“The US and Israel are aware that if you hit it, you risk Iran really targeting the oil infrastructure of Gulf states.”

He added that even if regime change were achieved in Iran, destroying Kharg would weaken any future government by eliminating the backbone of the country’s oil economy.

The US and Israeli militaries have also divided operational zones in the conflict.

Israeli jets have focused on western and central Iran, while US forces are responsible for the southern region and territorial waters — including the area around Kharg Island.

Energy analysts say another factor is the global oil market.

A disruption at Kharg could push crude prices sharply higher and strain relations with China, which buys the overwhelming majority of Iranian oil.

“The administration does not want to destroy the basis for a post-war Iranian economy,” Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told the Financial Times.

“It is a longstanding American red line.”

Focus on regime pressure

Still, some voices in Israel have urged strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has called for attacks on Kharg Island and Iran’s oil industry, saying that would “cripple Iran’s economy and topple the regime”.

But officials involved in the operation say the campaign has more limited objectives.

“The goal is to allow regime change,” a person briefed on the Israeli operation told the Financial Times. “The objective is not to destroy Iran completely.”

For now, that means Iran’s most important oil artery — despite being one of the easiest targets — remains untouched.