If President Donald Trump decides to order the U.S. navy to seize Kharg Island from Iran, the operation would require at the least 1,200 troops, consultants informed Activity & Goal. Whether or not or not that quantity could be sufficient to carry the island is much less clear.
For the second, it’s unsure whether or not U.S. troops could also be tasked with capturing the island, which processes about 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports.
Trump initially wrote in a Thursday social media publish that “sooner or later within the not too distant future, we shall be taking Kharg Island.” He later introduced that he had canceled additional U.S. navy strikes towards Iran.
Given the scale of Kharg Island, which sits roughly 15 miles from the Iranian coast, taking it could possible require a bolstered battalion as much as a brigade-sized pressure of between 1,200 and 4,000 U.S. troops, mentioned retired Military Gen. Joseph Votel, who led U.S. Central Command from 2016 to 2019.
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“The particular duties to be achieved will truly drive the scale of the pressure,” Votel informed Activity & Goal.
Sustaining U.S. troops on Kharg Island would require assist, together with air cowl, logistics, and engineering and evacuation capabilities, Votel mentioned.
Kharg Island is about 8 sq. miles giant and has a inhabitants of about 8,000 everlasting residents, mentioned Jonathan Schroden, an skilled on Marine Corps pressure design with CNA, a Washington, D.C.-based not-for-profit analysis and evaluation group.
Schroden has not performed an evaluation of what number of troops could be wanted to take the island, however talking typically phrases, he estimated the U.S. navy wouldn’t want a big pressure to grab it.
“It’s value noting {that a} Marine Expeditionary Unit brings with it a bolstered infantry battalion of about 1,200 Marines and amphibious seizure operations are a core functionality of that unit,” Schroden informed Activity & Goal. “Holding it would require greater than that — relying on, for instance, how a lot of a risk the 8,000 Iranian residents would possibly pose — so some quantity of follow-on forces may also be required.”
Kharg Island’s proximity to the Iranian coast places it inside vary of Iran’s long-range weapons, he mentioned.
“Any pressure the U.S. would possibly placed on the island would possible face a gentle risk of assaults by air and would require fixed air protection, possible by means of some mixture of natural capabilities and overhead safety supplied by Marine or joint aviation,” Schroden mentioned.
A retired senior protection official who spoke to Activity & Goal underneath situation of anonymity agreed that about 1,200 U.S. troops could be wanted to safe Kharg Island, including they’d possible be standard forces, reminiscent of a Marine battalion touchdown workforce or a bolstered Military airborne battalion — or a mixture of the 2.
Taking the island could be much less dangerous than holding it, mentioned the official, who defined that U.S. forces would wish engineers to dig defenses towards Iranian rocket and missile assaults. To carry the island for any size of time, the U.S. navy would additionally must suppress Iranian weapons that could possibly be used to strike it.
A U.S. navy operation to seize Kharg Island would require extra forces and contain extra threat than the particular operations mission in January that captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, mentioned Caitlin Talmadge, who teaches about U.S. navy technique and operations on the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise.
An airborne touchdown could possibly be tough as a result of island’s terrain and civilian inhabitants, and an amphibious operation so near the Iranian mainland might go away U.S. forces susceptible to Iranian assaults, Talmadge informed Activity & Goal.
“However even assuming insertion goes effectively, truly sustaining a sustainable presence and resupplying the forces on the island could be tough and doubtlessly dangerous for U.S. service personnel,” she mentioned.
CORRECTION: 6.11.2026; This text was up to date after publication to handle an error in figures attributed to retired Military Gen. Joseph Votel.
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