Image Credit: Anadolu / Contributor / Getty Images 
The Trump administration is considering blockading or occupying Kharg Island to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Axios cites “four sources with knowledge of the issue” and says further preparations to weaken Iran’s military capability would be needed before such an operation could take place.
“We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, take the island and then get them by the balls and use it for negotiations,” one source said.
The operation would also require a significant number of troops.
Three Marine units are now on their way to the region, and US officials say the administration is considering sending even more troops.
A senior official told Axios, “He [Trump] wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that’s going to happen. But that decision hasn’t been made.”
Another official said, “We’ve always had boots on the ground in conflicts under every president, including Trump. I know this is a fixation in the media, and I get the politics, but the president is going to do what’s right.”
A week ago, the US conducted massive strikes on Kharg Island, a central node in Iran’s oil shipment network in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strikes did not target oil infrastructure, but focused on military sites and assets.
President Trump said he would reserve the right to attack oil infrastructure there.
“We can take out the island anytime we want. I call it the little island that sits there so totally unprotected. We’ve taken out everything but the pipes. We left the pipes because to rebuild the pipes would take years for them,” Trump said on Thursday.
A blockade would prevent oil tankers from using the terminals on Kharg Island.
