Pentagon considers risky operation to capture Iran’s Kharg Island as Bitcoin holds steady at $71K

The Pentagon explored one of its most aggressive military options in recent memory: a ground operation to capture Kharg Island, the small but enormously consequential piece of Iranian territory that handles roughly 90% of the country’s crude oil exports.

The plan, considered in mid-March 2026, would have involved thousands of Marines and elements of the 82nd Airborne Division storming an island about one-third the size of Manhattan.

Airstrikes instead of boots on the ground

Rather than a full-scale amphibious assault, US Central Command conducted airstrikes on over 90 military targets on Kharg Island on March 13, 2026, followed by a second round on April 7. Oil infrastructure on the island was deliberately spared.

The ground operation had been floated as a last-resort option to weaken Iran and force the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Deployments discussed involved thousands of Marines from the 31st and 11th Marine Expeditionary Units alongside the 82nd Airborne.

Pentagon officials and members of the Trump administration reportedly weighed those risks carefully, including potential American casualties and severe retaliatory actions from Iran.

Why a tiny island matters to global markets

Kharg Island, roughly 25 square kilometers in size, controls the flow of nearly all Iranian crude exports. The Strait of Hormuz, which the operation was partly designed to secure, sees roughly a fifth of the world’s petroleum pass through it.

Bitcoin’s quiet resilience during the chaos

Bitcoin held steady around $71,000 during the military actions. US authorities froze approximately $344 million in Iranian-linked digital assets amid the conflict.

No significant new developments were reported in the weeks leading up to mid-June 2026 beyond continued verbal exchanges between Washington and Tehran.

The freeze of $344 million in Iranian-linked crypto raises regulatory questions about the compliance burden on exchanges and custodians, and has implications for the privacy-focused corners of the ecosystem that have historically attracted capital fleeing state oversight.

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