WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he wants to take over Kharg Island, Iran’s oil infrastructure hub. Analysts say the US military could seize the island quickly, but the move could leave US troops in great peril and prolong rather than shorten the war.

Kharg Island sits 16 miles (26 kilometers) from Iran’s coast in the northern end of the Gulf, about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. It lies in waters deep enough to enable the docking of tankers that are too large to approach the Iranian mainland’s shallow coastal waters.

The island handled 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports before the war started on February 28. Seizing it would severely disrupt Iran’s energy trade and place enormous pressure on Tehran’s economy. Iran is the third largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, known as OPEC.

US forces carried out strikes against Kharg in March and April, and Trump said they “totally obliterated” all military targets there and that they could next target oil infrastructure. US officials told Reuters at the time the administration was weighing whether to send ground forces to the island.

Kharg has not been attacked since then, amid a fragile and inconsistent ceasefire, though the United States has targeted oil tankers near the island as it maintains a blockade on Iranian........

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