Iran Fortifies Kharg Island With Mines and Air Defenses as Trump Threatens to Seize it
CNN reports Iran has mined Kharg Island's shoreline and reinforced air defenses as Trump threatens to seize the oil hub that handles 90% of Iran's crude exports.
Iran has been quietly fortifying Kharg Island in anticipation of a potential U.S. ground operation, CNN reported Thursday, hours after President Trump publicly threatened to seize the strategic oil hub.
According to multiple sources familiar with U.S. intelligence reporting, Iran has been laying traps and moving additional military personnel and air defense systems to Kharg Island in recent weeks. Iran has also laid anti-personnel and anti-armor mines around the island, including along the shoreline where U.S. troops could potentially stage an amphibious landing.
Among the defensive reinforcements, Iran has moved additional shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile systems known as MANPADs to the island, which features layered defenses that U.S. officials and military experts say could result in significant American casualties in any ground assault.
The report lands hours after Trump issued an extraordinary statement threatening to seize the island outright. "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," Trump wrote Thursday.
Kharg Island is a five-mile stretch of land off Iran's coast, described by U.S. officials as the "nexus for all the Iranian oil supply," handling roughly 90% of the country's crude oil exports. Its long jetties extend into waters deep enough to accommodate supertankers, making it a critical node in global energy distribution.
The U.S. Air Force already struck Kharg Island on March 13, targeting more than 90 Iranian military sites including naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers, while deliberately avoiding oil and gas infrastructure.
Some allies of the president are raising questions about whether seizing the island is necessary, noting that successfully taking Kharg would not on its own resolve the broader problems related to the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's stranglehold on global energy markets.
Iran has warned that any attack on its southern coast or islands would trigger the mining of all Gulf access routes, including the release of floating mines from the coast.