Kharg Island: The pearl of the Persian Gulf Premium

The Hindu profile on Kharg Island, Iran's vital oil hub, faces escalating conflict amid U.S.-Israel tensions, threatening global energy supply and prices.

A U.S. attack has “totally obliterated every military target” on Kharg Island, Iran’s crown jewel in the Persian Gulf, said President Donald Trump in a social media post on March 14. Trump described the attack as “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East”. The attack came after Mr. Trump’s earlier warning to Iran not to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime checkpoint connecting the Gulf with the Arabian Sea. The strait remains effectively closed.

As the U.S.–Israel war on Iran enters its second week, Kharg Island is now at the centre of the conflict. The tiny coral outpost in the Gulf sits at the centre of Iran’s oil export network. The attack on the island now raises the risk of choking Iran’s economic lifeline and triggering wider global disruptions.

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Kharg Island is no ordinary speck of land. Barely 8 km long and covering about 20 sq. km, it rises from the northern Persian Gulf as a small island, about 25–30 km off Iran’s mainland coast. It sits in the turquoise waters of the Gulf. The landscape is dominated not by nature but by industry: massive storage tanks, sprawling jetties and an airstrip cutting across the island. Super tankers dock here daily to load millions of barrels of crude piped in from Iran’s inland oil fields.

Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, the celebrated 20th century Iranian writer and philosopher, once described Kharg as the “orphan pearl” of the Persian Gulf. Today, many Iranians term it the “forbidden Island” because of the tight military restrictions surrounding it. Guarded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), entry is limited to those with official clearance.

Despite the secrecy, the island has a long and layered history. Kharg has long been part of regional trade networks. Ancient records from around the 10th century describe it as a stop for pearl divers and traders travelling between India and Basra, Iraq. Dutch merchants fortified the island in the 18th century before being driven out, and the British briefly occupied it in the 19th.