On Tuesday, March 24, retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg — Trump's former White House special envoy to Ukraine — made a public case for American ground troops to seize Kharg Island and the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking on Fox News, he said: "I'm a big believer in boots on the ground, we need to do it like the Romans used to." He laid out the specific operational logic: use Amphibious Ready Groups to open the lower half of the Strait, then send the 82nd Airborne Division or Rangers to take Kharg Island. "I would be able to control the, basically the oil outflow of Iran," he said.
Kellogg is not currently in government. But he is a prominent figure in Trump's orbit, and his comments land in a context where the Pentagon has already been making preparations for exactly this kind of operation.
BBC reported, citing sources who told CBS News, that Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations to deploy forces to seize Kharg Island. The Christian Science Monitor reported in March that over 2,000 US Marines are headed toward the Persian Gulf with a possible goal of "gaining leverage over Iran by seizing Kharg Island, with its oil-shipping infrastructure." The Jerusalem Post, citing sources, reported that the Trump administration has been "more interested in the potential option of taking over Iran's Kharg Island, including using thousands of US marines who are being moved into the area" than in a full ground war.
So: Kellogg is not freelancing. He is describing, publicly and in specific operational detail, what appears to be an active option being considered at the Pentagon level.
Act 1: What Kharg Island Is
Kharg Island is a small island — 8 square miles (20 square kilometers), per The Guardian — located 16 miles from the Iranian city of Bushehr at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. It is not strategically significant because of its size. It is significant because of what flows through it.
The Kharg Island terminal exports approximately 90% of Iranian oil, according to The Guardian. It is supplied by pipes from nearby offshore fields. It functions as Iran's primary oil export hub — the point at which Iranian crude exits the country and enters the global market.
Iran's oil exports are its primary revenue source. They fund the government, the IRGC, and Iran's regional proxy network. Kharg Island is the infrastructure that makes that revenue possible. Seizing Kharg Island would not just be a military operation — it would be a financial strangulation of the Iranian state.
Wikipedia's documentation of the 2026 Kharg Island raid confirms the island had already been targeted: satellite imagery taken days after earlier bombing shows it "continues to be used as an export terminal, with three tankers moored there." The island has been struck but not seized. The question being debated is whether to seize it physically.
Wikipedia also notes that much of the oil shipped from Kharg Island is exported to China, and that Iranian oil accounts for approximately 11.6% of China's seaborne oil imports so far in 2026. That figure adds a diplomatic dimension: seizing Kharg Island does not just cut Iran's revenue — it cuts a significant portion of China's oil supply, with consequences for US-China relations that extend well beyond the Iran war.
Act 2: What Kellogg Proposed
Kellogg's Fox News appearance on March 24 provided one of the most operationally specific public descriptions of the Kharg Island option to date. His proposal, in his own words as reported:
"Look, I know there's risk involved, there's always risk involved but those kids, those young men and women, they understand the risk involved in taking both Kharg and opening up the Strait of Hormuz as well. So they've got the ability to do it, the amphibious ready groups for the Marines, they can open up the lower half of the Strait, do it. Then I'd turn around maybe to the 82nd Airborne Division or Rangers or somebody like that to take Kharg Island. I would be able to control the, basically the oil outflow of Iran."
The Hill's reporting on the same appearance noted Kellogg called himself "a big believer in boots on the ground" and cited the Romans as a strategic model. He specifically invoked the 82nd Airborne Division — the same unit the Pentagon is separately weighing deploying to the Middle East, per Reuters reporting cited by The Guardian.
Kellogg's operational logic is straightforward: use Marines to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at its southern end (where the chokepoint is narrowest), then use airborne troops to physically occupy Kharg Island and shut off Iranian oil revenue. The combined effect would be to reopen global oil transit while simultaneously eliminating Iran's primary income source — forcing a ceasefire not through military defeat of Iran's armed forces but through economic strangulation.
BBC confirmed that Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for exactly this kind of deployment. Sources told CBS News that Kharg Island seizure is among the scenarios being planned for.
Act 3: The Complications
The Jerusalem Post, citing sources, reported on March 24 that the Trump administration is "not rushing to fully open Hormuz with force" and that ground troops are "not in the near future." The source characterized Trump as currently focused on the diplomatic option he attempted to revive on March 23, combined with interest in the Kharg Island option as leverage — not as an immediate action.
The distinction matters: having 2,500 Marines moving toward the Gulf, with detailed Pentagon plans for Kharg Island seizure, creates leverage in diplomatic negotiations even if no ground operation is launched. Iran knows the option exists. The credibility of the threat affects the negotiating dynamic.
But the complications of actually executing the operation are substantial:
China's oil supply: Wikipedia confirms Iranian oil accounts for approximately 11.6% of China's seaborne imports in 2026. Seizing Kharg Island would directly impact China's energy supply, which Beijing would view as an act of economic aggression. China has warned of "uncontrollable escalation" from the Hormuz crisis. A US ground operation at Kharg would escalate that warning considerably.
Iranian resistance: Kharg Island is on Iranian sovereign territory. A physical seizure would constitute a ground invasion of Iran, not merely airstrikes. The IRGC and Iranian military would be expected to contest any landing. The Christian Science Monitor described the option as "high risk, high reward" — the reward being leverage over Iran, the risk being US casualties in a ground fight on Iranian soil.
Legal and diplomatic framework: Ground seizure of Iranian sovereign territory would require either a formal declaration of war or an Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress has not yet provided. The Hill reported separately on March 24 that Congress is set to vote on a funding bill for the Iran war — but an AUMF for ground operations in Iran is a different and more politically fraught authorization.
Kharg's continued operation: Wikipedia documents that despite earlier airstrikes on Kharg Island, satellite imagery shows it continuing to function as an export terminal with tankers still moored there. Bombing it has not shut it down. Physical seizure would be necessary to actually halt exports — which is precisely Kellogg's argument for ground troops.
Act 4: Historical Context
Kharg Island has been a strategic target before. During the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–1988, Iraq repeatedly attacked Kharg Island's oil infrastructure to cut Iran's revenue. The attacks disrupted but did not eliminate Iranian oil exports — tankers rerouted and Iran adapted its logistics. That historical precedent suggests that physical seizure, rather than bombardment, may be the only reliable method of actually halting exports from the terminal — which is consistent with Kellogg's argument for a ground operation.
The "Romans used to" framing Kellogg invoked is a reference to Roman strategy of controlling key logistical nodes — roads, ports, chokepoints — rather than defeating enemy armies in the field. Applied to Kharg Island: control the oil infrastructure and Iran's ability to fund the war collapses without requiring a full military defeat of its armed forces.
Whether that strategic logic holds in the modern context depends on factors — Iranian oil smuggling routes, Chinese willingness to pay premium prices for Iranian crude regardless of US pressure, the durability of any US garrison on Iranian territory — that cannot be resolved from available public sources.
The Record
Kharg Island handles approximately 90% of Iranian oil exports, per The Guardian. More than 2,000 US Marines are moving toward the Persian Gulf, per the Christian Science Monitor. Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for a Kharg seizure option, per sources who spoke to CBS News cited by BBC. Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg publicly advocated for the operation on Fox News on March 24, proposing a two-phase ground operation using Marines for the Strait and the 82nd Airborne for Kharg.
The Jerusalem Post reports Trump is not pursuing the ground option "in the near future" and is currently focused on diplomacy. But the preparations are being made, and the conversations are now public.
Kharg Island is 8 square miles. It handles 90% of Iran's oil exports. The US military is moving Marines into position. One retired general says do it like the Romans.