US weighs airborne seizure of Iran's Kharg Island, NYT reports
Mar 24th 2026 · Iran
Pentagon planners have studied options to dispatch thousands of paratroopers or marines to capture Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub, but no action has been ordered.
- US officials have considered deploying about 3,000 82nd Airborne paratroopers to seize Kharg Island.
- An alternative option is to use roughly 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit already en route to the Middle East.
- Kharg Island handles about 90% of Iran's crude exports and lies roughly 25 kilometers off Iran's coast.
- The US struck military targets on Kharg in mid-March but did not hit the island's energy infrastructure.
- Iran has warned of attacks on regional oil and gas facilities and threatened to mine the Strait of Hormuz if Kharg is seized.
- NYT sources say the Pentagon and US Central Command have not issued orders to carry out the operation.