WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING AT KHARG ISLAND DURING THE US-ISRAEL STRIKES?
Iran increased loadings of oil at the terminal before the conflict began and tankers continued to fill there after hostilities broke out – probably because Iran’s government wanted to get as much of the country’s crude as possible onto the water and out of harm’s way.
Those vessels need to transit through the Strait of Hormuz to reach global markets, and far fewer ships have been passing through the waterway since the war began on Feb 28.
WHY HAS KHARG ISLAND BEEN SPARED SO FAR?
The US and Israel have focused their firepower on Iranian missile and drone positions, other military and security targets and the Islamic Republic’s leadership.
Iran has fired missiles and drones at the US, Israel and their allies in the region in response.
Oil prices have spiked since the conflict began, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted and Iran sought to damage energy infrastructure in other Gulf energy-exporting countries.
Airstrikes on Kharg Island could disrupt most of Iran’s oil exports for weeks or months and worsen what is already a serious economic crisis in the country. It could also spur Iran to escalate its attacks on energy facilities across the region.
While most of the oil from Kharg Island ends up in China, disrupting exports from the terminal would likely send crude prices around the world even higher, stoking inflation in major industrialised nations, including the US – something the Trump administration will want to avoid in an election year.
