Kharg Island, located in the Persian Gulf, is Iran’s most important oil export point, hosting the nation’s largest oil export terminal.

The island, which is 25 square kilometres in size and situated 38 kilometres off the coast of Bandar Genaveh in Bushehr province, is home to a population of more than 8,000 people and is not far from the UAE. And Israel could strike it, causing a second ecological disaster in a week, following a strike on Tehran's oil depots, creating a poison cloud now heading towards Central Asia. 

Kharg lies 483km northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil supply passes, which has already seen record prices in recent hours. 

Earlier on March 7, tensions following several strikes on Bahrain's Bapco effectively took it offline, prompting the Israeli opposition MP Yair Lapid to demand a hit on Kharg. 

That threat to the island should make many nervous, given that most of the Gulf is already offline and Iran's Hormuz blockage is spooking insurers the world over. 

Kharg is a key base for Iranian firms, including Kharg Petrochemical Co., Iranian Offshore Oil Co. (IOOC) and Iranian Oil Terminal Co. (IOTC), a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC). The IOTC is in charge of the logistics for Iran’s oil sales from the island which accounts for 90% of Iran’s oil exports.

The terminal is equipped with five loading jetties, enabling several tankers to berth simultaneously, and fourteen storage tanks capable of holding some 4mn barrels of crude. This capacity allows the facility to buffer export disruptions, ensuring a steady oil flow even under pressure, but it only has a small defence network of a few hundred soldiers and batteries.

In practice, Kharg can accommodate four to five tankers at once, typically Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) or Suezmax vessels, and can move up to 2mn barrels per day when operating at full capacity.

The island’s strategic location at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz means any interruption to its operations would send ripples through global oil markets, making it a focal point of both Iranian planning and international scrutiny.

Economically, Kharg’s output is a lifeline for Iran’s oil revenues. Despite US sanctions restricting its ability to sell oil on the open market, the island’s capacity to load multiple tankers quickly helps Tehran work around logistical bottlenecks and maintain a flow of foreign currency.

Kharg Island’s security record underscores its geopolitical importance. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Iraqi forces bombed the terminal repeatedly, causing significant damage to the jetties and storage tanks and temporarily halting shipments. Over 2,800 attacks were launched against the island during the 1980s.

More recently, the facility has faced threats from aerial and missile strikes of US-Israeli war against Iran, though it has remained operational.

Iran has developed the Jask oil export terminal on the Sea of Oman, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, as a backup should operations on Kharg Island be disrupted.

The Jask Export Terminal, located in Hormozgan province, has a crude oil export capacity of around 1mn bpd, with potential expansion to 1.6mn bpd.

It features six storage tanks with a combined capacity of 1.2mn barrels and can accommodate up to six VLCCs simultaneously, utilising four deep-water jetties. The terminal aims to reduce reliance on existing terminals and diversify export routes, bolstering Iran’s energy security.