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Seizing Kharg Island would risk US troops' lives and may not end Iran war, experts say
The Associated Press published Seizing Kharg Island would risk US troops' lives and may not end Iran war, experts say, by Ben Finley and Sam Metz. The story text that loaded does not print its own calendar date. The page is indexed as published March 31, 2026, and it discusses comments through the Monday after Friday, March 27, 2026. Kharg Island is Iran's main oil-export island in the Persian Gulf, about 21 miles from the Iranian mainland. The story says President Donald Trump has raised sending American ground troops to seize it, and that experts say those troops could be killed without forcing Iran to give up. An American family should care because "seize" means soldiers staying on the island, not another round of airstrikes.
Evidence rating: MODERATE. The rating covers the article's report that Trump left the seizure of Kharg Island open, and that Secretary of State Rubio said on Friday ground troops would not be needed, then did not repeat it on Monday. The casualty warnings come from named experts.
What the article says
The AP reports that Trump is threatening to deploy ground troops to seize oil infrastructure on Kharg Island. It says about 90 percent of Iran's oil exports pass through the island, because most of Iran's coast is too shallow for tankers. It says experts told the AP that a sea blockade of ships that load there could hurt Iran's oil trade with less risk to Americans.
Michael Eisenstadt, who directs the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and who the AP describes as a retired Army reserve officer, said putting people on the ground might feel like the strongest blow. He also said those troops would be in jeopardy, because Iran could fire on the island from the mainland and damage its own oil equipment to do it.
Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, told the AP that taking the island could widen the war. He said Iran and its partners could answer with mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping lane for a large share of the world's oil, or with drones across the region. He said the island would be hard to take and hard to hold, and that the economic damage might not force Iran to surrender. He called control of the island "in no way a decisive blow," including the idea of trading it for Iran's enriched uranium.
The AP reports that Trump told the Financial Times he might take the island and might not.
"Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't."
President Donald Trump, to the Financial Times, as reported by the Associated Press.
The same interview, as the AP prints it, continues: "We have a lot of options." Trump then said holding the island "would also mean we had to be there (on Kharg Island) for a while." Asked about Iranian defenses, he said, "I don't think they have any defense. We could take it very easily."
The AP reports a split in the administration's public line. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that ground troops would not be needed to meet the administration's goals. On Monday, asked about plans for U.S. ground troops, he did not repeat that. He said the president has several options and prefers diplomacy. On ABC's "Good Morning America," Rubio said Iran's threats to control the Strait of Hormuz for good, including a toll system, would not be allowed, and that the president has options if he chooses to use them.
The AP says the United States had already struck air defenses, a radar site, the airport, and a hovercraft base on the island, citing satellite analysis by the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project. Energy researcher Petras Katinas, of the Royal United Services Institute, said other small ports would still move some oil, but less of it, and at higher cost.
On the troops already in the region, the AP reports that a Navy ship carrying about 2,500 Marines had recently arrived, that at least 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were expected soon, and that another 2,500 Marines were being deployed from California. The 82nd Airborne is a paratrooper unit trained to jump into contested ground and secure a place or an airfield. The AP says the administration had not said what these troops would do.
The AP says troops on Kharg would be about 21 miles from the Iranian mainland, in range of missiles, drones, and artillery. It says more than two dozen American troops were injured the week before at a Saudi air base. Eisenstadt said ships and planes would still have little warning time against drones coming through mountain passes. He and Clayton Seigle, an energy security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, argued for stopping Iranian oil at sea, farther from Iran's weapons, instead of occupying or destroying the island. Seigle said wrecking Iran's oil income for years would not match a stated goal of helping Iranians who had protested for a better future.
What other reporting and posts add
It was on the Pentagon's option list. Axios reported on 26 March, as The Independent retold it, that one of four options for a "massive final blow" was to "invade or blockade Kharg Island." White House officials called the options "hypothetical." The Independent, 26 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t56__v668.md)
A Republican lawmaker's warning about it. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), after walking out of a Pentagon briefing, invoked the World War II battle on CNN, as LBC reported: "Seven thousand Marines died on the black sands of Iwo Jima." She said of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a leading Iran hawk: "I don't think Lindsey Graham, for all of that hubris, has thought through or wargamed the consequences of us taking Kharg Island." LBC also reported that "If the 5,000 troops are deployed, the troops would likely sent to a US military base within striking distance of Iran's Kharg island." LBC, 27 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t56__v668.md)
Israel's army would not be alongside. The same weekend, Israel's Channel 12 was reported as saying Israel would support a US ground operation "with airstrikes, intelligence, and airpower, but not infantry," though an X summary later noted "no direct confirmation" on Channel 12's own site. X trend, 30 March 2026. (captures: twitter/t13__v148.md, twitter/t13__v150.md) Israeli analyst Danny Citrinowicz, quoted in this AP story, works at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a Tel Aviv University-affiliated think tank; his warning that the island is "in no way a decisive blow" is an Israeli expert's own view.
What came next. In June, a leaked Army order reported by Ken Klippenstein sent a company of the 82nd Airborne to Israel on temporary duty, tied in an X summary to "joint contingency planning" "for seizing Iranian-controlled Kharg Island." X news summary, 8 June 2026. (capture: twitter/t07__v083.md) On 11 June Trump threatened to take the island; see Trump vows to seize Iran's Kharg Island.
What it shows
Between Friday and Monday, the Secretary of State's "no ground troops needed" line went quiet while the President answered "maybe" on Kharg Island. The experts in the story describe what holding the island would cost American troops. Those same days, the Washington Post was reporting Pentagon preparations for weeks of ground operations near the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel's Channel 12 was reporting that Israeli soldiers would not take part. See Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid and No Boots on the Ground.
Check it yourself
The AP story is at https://apnews.com/article/kharg-island-seize-ground-troops-oil-iran-4244166c19dd33689f8a59e96e1d7d5b.
Status: Donald Trump is alive. Marco Rubio is alive. Michael Eisenstadt is alive. Danny Citrinowicz is alive.
A quick primer. The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February 2026, and within weeks Iran had choked the Strait of Hormuz, the sea lane that carries much of the world's oil. Kharg Island, a few miles off Iran's coast, is where most of Iran's own oil is loaded for export. The idea behind seizing it is leverage: hold Iran's oil income hostage until it reopens the strait or gives up its nuclear material. The cost is that American soldiers would have to sit on a small island within range of Iranian missiles and drones for as long as it takes.
Research captures: twitter/t56__v668.md, twitter/t13__v148.md, twitter/t13__v150.md, twitter/t07__v083.md
Last Updated: 2026-09-26