According to Reuters’ March 13 report on the strike, Trump said U.S. forces had hit military targets on the island while leaving oil facilities intact. In a March 14 Reuters follow-up, he repeated that warning and said the decision could change if Iran or others interfere with safe passage through Hormuz. Iranian media, cited by Reuters, said explosions were heard on Kharg Island but that oil infrastructure had not been damaged.
Why Kharg Island matters in the Hormuz crisis
Kharg Island sits at the center of Iran’s export system. An Associated Press overview of energy infrastructure at risk said the terminal handled almost all of Iran’s prewar crude exports, much of it bound for China. A Reuters overview of Iran’s energy network said Chinese private refiners remain the main buyers of Iranian oil, underscoring why even a limited disruption at Kharg could echo well beyond the Gulf.
The shipping risk is just as important. A Reuters explainer on the Strait of Hormuz said the waterway carries about a fifth of the world’s fossil energy supplies, leaving traders and governments sensitive to any threat against tanker traffic. Trump has also said the U.S. Navy will move toward escorting tankers, a sign Washington sees the fight around Hormuz as both a military problem and a commerce problem.
Kharg Island has been a pressure point for years
This is not the first time Kharg and Hormuz have sat at the center of the oil market’s nerves. In June 2025 reporting, Reuters said Iran was still using Kharg as the backbone of its export strategy even while shifting loadings to the island’s eastern jetty during conflict. In August 2024 coverage, Reuters detailed how Tehran pushed crude into new destinations through ship-to-ship transfers tied back to Kharg. And its May 2019 report on tanker attacks near Fujairah showed how quickly pressure around Hormuz can spill into commercial shipping and crude supply chains.
That history matters because Kharg Island is more than a symbolic target. It is where Iran’s oil logistics, sanctions workarounds and military vulnerability meet. If the island’s export infrastructure is drawn directly into the war, traders will be watching not only for physical damage, but also for what happens to tanker routing, marine insurance and the willingness of Gulf producers to keep loading cargoes.
For now, Trump’s message leaves a narrow line between coercive military pressure and direct attacks on energy infrastructure. But with Iran warning that any strike on its oil assets would prompt retaliation against regional energy facilities, that line looks thinner than it did a day ago.
