Trump administration reviewing plans to seize or blockade Iran's Kharg Island

The Trump administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran's Kharg Island to pressure Tehran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reported on March 20, citing four sources with knowledge of the discussions.

The island, which sits 24 kilometres off Iran's southern coast and processes 90% of the country's crude exports, has emerged as the centrepiece of Washington's strategy to end Iran's stranglehold on global shipping. But any ground operation would put US troops directly on Iranian territory for the first time.

"We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, take the island and then get them by the balls and use it for negotiations," a source with knowledge of White House thinking told Axios.

"He wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that's going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that's going to happen. But that decision hasn't been made," a senior administration official said.

A second senior official added: "We've always had boots on the ground in conflicts under every president, including Trump. I know this is a fixation in the media, and I get the politics, but the president is going to do what's right."

Three Marine units are already heading to the region, including a 2,500-strong expeditionary force due within days. The White House and Pentagon are discussing further reinforcements, Axios reported.

Senator Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Trump had been "prudent" not to rule out a ground invasion and that the president had "mountains of plans" for the Hormuz contingency.

The US struck dozens of military targets on Kharg Island last week in what officials described as a "shot across the bow" to convince Iran to reopen the strait. It also served to degrade Iran's military capabilities on the island and lay groundwork for a potential ground operation.

"We can take out the island anytime we want. I call it the little island that sits there so totally unprotected. We've taken out everything but the pipes. We left the pipes because to rebuild the pipes would take years for them," Trump told reporters on March 20, adding: "I'm not putting troops anywhere," before qualifying: "If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you."

Not all military voices support the plan. Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery told the agency that seizing Kharg could expose troops to unnecessary risk.

"If we seize Kharg Island, they're going to turn off the spigot on the other end. It's not like we control their oil production," he said.

Montgomery said a more likely scenario was that after about two more weeks of strikes, the US would send destroyers and aircraft into the strait to escort tankers rather than launch an invasion.