US forces struck more than 90 Iranian military targets last week on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, in what Washington called a calibrated effort to pressure Tehran to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the United States Central Command, the strikes hit naval mine storage facilities, missile bunkers, air defences, a naval base, and a runway, while deliberately avoiding oil infrastructure.
Kharg Island sits about 25 kilometres off Iran’s coast in the Arabian Gulf and roughly 480 kilometres north of the Strait of Hormuz. Before the conflict, Kharg handled about 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports and could load roughly 7 million barrels per day—despite its modest size of about 20 sq km. Storage capacity on the island is estimated at around 30 million barrels, with roughly 18 million barrels currently stored.
Iran is the third-largest producer in OPEC. It produces about 3.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, plus 1.3 million bpd of condensate and other liquids, accounting for roughly 4.5% of global oil supply. Despite sanctions, exports average 1–1.5 million bpd, though shipments surged before the conflict, reaching 2.17 million bpd in February and a record 3.79 million bpd during the week of February 16, according to Kpler.
Much of that oil flows to China, which accounts for 11.6% of Beijing's seaborne crude imports this year. Iran earned about $53bn in net oil export revenues in 2025, roughly 11% of GDP.
Given its central role in Iran’s economy and its links to military financing, Iran threatened to respond to attacks against its oil infrastructure by attacking oil facilities across the Gulf. Any disruption to Kharg’s operations could reverberate across global oil markets.
Kharg Island has previously been targeted during regional conflicts, most notably during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, when Iraqi forces carried out repeated bombing raids on the island’s oil facilities.
