← Videos
Seizing Iran's Kharg Island: "Very Doable" (Bloomberg, June 2026)
Commentators and officials calling for US Marines to seize Kharg Island or other Iranian islands.
Can the US Really Take Iran's Kharg Island? · Bloomberg Television · uploaded 2026-06-11 · 7:44
Original: youtube.com/watch?v=uKvegSryU6k · IPFS QmVEDyMaoRMPFXXWfNHimCYrSzdQjMjmr1JK3HzNgtGVBN
What this video is evidence for
Kharg Island, off Iran's Gulf coast, is the terminal for about 90% of Iran's crude oil exports. Seizing it would mean taking Iran's economic lifeline, and holding a piece of Iranian territory with American troops.
On Bloomberg Television (June 11, 2026), defense analyst Rebecca Grant of the Lexington Institute (a Washington think tank funded in part by defense contractors) explains why she thinks it can be done:
"From a pure tactical perspective, this is very doable for the forces that Central Command has in the region. We've got the USS Tripoli, which is a helicopter carrier with 2,000 Marines embarked, a lot of Army forces also up there in Kuwait."
She is clear about who would go in: "To actually take Kharg Island, that is going to involve U.S. soldiers, Marines, Special Forces, going in there... what Trump would want is to leave the oil facilities running and simply take that over." She describes a second ground mission, digging out Iran's enriched uranium, as "more manpower and material," and says the military is "trained and ready to do" both. President Trump, she notes, "has looked at plans for Kharg Island; they've probably been working on these for months."
Notice the language: "very doable," "button up the airspace," "you don't need a big occupying force." It is the language that makes a ground war sound small before it starts.
Where this fits: see American Soldiers Iran Videos for the full explanation and sources.
Transcript
Machine transcription (apple-speechanalyzer) of the full 00:07:44. It can mishear names and words, so check exact wording against the video before quoting it.
Doctor, it's great to see you. Welcome back to Bloomberg. We've got lots of questions for you, and I know that you and I talked about this very thing, as I mentioned, in the outset of this conflict. Now that we struck some targets on Carg Island, what would be involved in seizing it? This actually would be a lot easier than it would have been back in February or March.
There was a heavy series of strikes, about 90 targets were hit. They hit some military facilities, you know, obviously left all the oil infrastructure alone. Back in March, it was hit again in April. But I've got to tell you, from a pure tactical perspective, this is very doable for the forces that Central Command has in the region. We've got the USS Tripoli, which is a helicopter carrier with 2,000 Marines embarked, a lot of army forces also up there in Kuwait and throughout the theater.
So, you know, it's the you do the standard procedure. You put the air power over top of it, constant close air support, and then a possibility, air assault. There's even a small runway, already on Car's Island. Huh, fascinating. Seizing it is one thing holding it is another.
Rebecca Grant, would we need to know fly zone, or do we already have the assets in place for force protection if we had men and women on Carg Island? Exactly. Force protection is at the top of the list. You know, we already kind of have a no fly zone. We have air dominance over that region.
And the fact that President Trump is speculating about this reconfirms to me that he has looked at plans for Carj Island, they've probably been working on these for months and refining them. And force protection, that's gonna come down to counter drone, counter US, and counter missile systems. But if you think about it, it's not unlike defending an air base in a forward area, or, like, in Afghanistan, when we would send forces forward at a Ford arming and refueling point, and know we needed to defend that perimeter and that airspace. It's not unlike defending Guam, for example. So this is something that the Army and the Air Force and Navy, as well, together are very, very capable of doing.
I think they can button up the aerospace over Karg Island. The president will have been briefed on the prospect of casualties, whatever that may be. We don't know, but this is something that can definitely be done, and you don't need a big occupying force on Carr's Island. We hold all the approaches to it. We don't need to put a lot of American ground forces in there once we have it.
Really, it's interesting to hear you describe it like this, because so many have gone out of their way to talk about what a higher risk operation this would be for our military. But I'm curious, you mentioned drones, and we saw the use of an autonomous ship, that course yard that picked up the 2 downed Apache crew members earlier this week. To what extent, if any, could we rely on automated technology, drones and the like to do some of the job that men and women might normally do? Yes, well, that pickup was amazing. And remember, Admiral Brad Cooper, who's the commander of U.
S. Central Command, his previous job, he was in charge of all the Navy unmanned surface vessel experimentation in the Gulf, Task Force 59. He is an expert in all of these things. So what we're seeing is a lot of manned, unmanned teaming between systems across all the services, and, yes, we will do that. Now, to actually take Carl Island, that is going to involve U.
S. soldiers, Marines, Special Forces, going in there to do that, because I think what Trump would want is to leave the oil facilities running and simply take that over. There is definitely risk in this operation, but tactically, it is doable. A higher risk operation might be unearthing the highly emissed uranium that we've spent so much time talking about, the president calls it the nuclear dust. That would be more men material, and it would take a longer period of time, right, to actually excavate and remove that material.
Have we been refining plans to do that as well? Oh, probably. They haven't showed them to me. But it's the same concept that with the amount of air dominance we have, you aerosault forces establish a perimeter, defend that perimeter, and because Iran's drone and missile capabilities have been so beaten down. You know, we've got a good chance of doing this.
And remember, we've got horses that were very experienced with operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and they know how to defend a perimeter and defend a site like that. So it's not no risk. It does take time, but that basic concept of aerosaulting into an area and holding it and getting a job done, whether it's taken out nuclear dust, or seizing the oil pumping facilities. That is something our military is trained and ready to do. Really interesting.
President talked quite a bit yesterday about next steps, knowing that he is still, of course, trying to pursue a diplomatic track here, but it sure looks like military activity is more likely when he talks about hitting them even harder tonight. Rebecca Grant, are we talking about water facilities, power plants, what actually makes a dent for this regime? It is possible to put some of those legitimate military infrastructure targets on the list. When he talks about hitting harder, my mind immediately goes to strikes from our bombers, our B1s, B 52s, B2s, as well, that carry the heavy ones. Ordinance, also, are F 15 Es, and our F 16s, F 35s, that carry heavy ordinance.
We did tomahawk strikes just recently, great weapon, but it's a relatively smaller warhead. I think he's talking about taking out some more of the industrial targets. Anything where Iran was trying to sweep up the dust and get back in business he may have on the strike list. Yeah. Nobody embraces the quality of our exquisite weapons, quite the way Dr.
Rebecca Grant does. You know, somebody mentioned on the program yesterday. When the president talked about the actual ships in oil that we've been sneaking through at night for some time now. He said, 100 million barrels, and Iran just found out about it. Is that because of that Apache that went down?
Was that Apache helping to provide protection for ships going through the straight, do we think? We know that the Apaches have been driving off IRGC small boats and doing counter drone kills for about a month. So they haven't said anything official, but I believe, yes, that Apache was creating safer conditions across the Strait of Hormuz, is an incredibly capable platform, uh, with a lot of new upgrades. And I think the Iranians had that drone up there, you know, and I think I suspect the Apache crew may have been trying to shoot it down, as well. Yes, the Apaches, they are up there right now working in that area, of course.
Is the drone threat still the most serious to our aircraft and boats? The drone threat is still there. I would say, it's a challenging threat, but one... Or the missiles. have a lot of overmatch.
There's also a missile threat to, you know, Iran is still able to shoot here and there. It is not enough to dislodge either our great U.S. Navy blockade. Of course, our two carriers, or to really threaten our land based error.
So we still have the freedom of action, and all the overwhelming advantage. But, yes, we're trying to get after the remnants of that drone and missile threat. Really interesting. It's always great to spend some time with you. Dr.
Rebecca Grant. famously, Ethel Lexington Institute. This is basically, this, think of this as your intelligence briefing, like the president would get in the morning, doctor, thank you.
Last Updated: 2026-09-27