Kharg Island

As of 1 July 2026, Hormuz traffic past Kharg had climbed to 43 vessels a day, still below the roughly 94-a-day pre-war baseline; one sanctioned tanker loaded an estimated 1.99 million barrels (~$135m) at the terminal for China. Kharg handles approximately 90% of Iran's seaborne crude exports, funding state budgets, IRGC operations, and regional proxy networks. US strikes on 14 March 2026 hit the island's military positions, including Joshen Sea Base and the airport tower, sparing the terminal itself. Pentagon planners then confirmed active plans for a Marine amphibious assault with a follow-on 82nd Airborne Division drop, never executed. Iran mined Kharg's beaches and fortified its defences in response.

Kharg Island sits 25 kilometres off Iran's southwestern coast in the Persian Gulf, operated by the Kharg Oil Terminal Company, a subsidiary of NIOC. Nearly all tankers loading here must transit the Strait of Hormuz before reaching buyers, making the terminal Tehran's single greatest point of economic leverage. Iraq struck the island more than 50 times during the 1980-88 war and Iran rebuilt it each time, establishing its strategic durability as precedent.

By July, the terminal was physically intact and increasingly active: the OFAC General Licence U covering Indian purchases expired on 19 April and was superseded by General Licence X, running to 21 August, underwriting the traffic recovery. The terminal's survival, now converting into rising throughput rather than mere endurance, remains the central lever in negotiations over Hormuz governance and the unresolved PGSA fee regime.