Mar 14, 2026
3 min read
An islet of 22 square kilometers, which was famous for the pearl trade centuries ago, has become today the Achilles heel of the Iranian economy.Deeply...
- Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where the war will be decided
- The declaration of the new supreme leader of Iran insisted on atoning for the blood of the "martyrs" and maintaining the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a weapon "against the enemies".
A small island of 22 square kilometers, which hundreds of years ago was known for the pearl trade, is today the Achilles heel of the Iranian economy. The depth of its coast makes it easy to load barrels of crude oil onto tankers for export, and before the war against Israel and the United States, about 1.6 million barrels left the place every day. Its perfect location in the Persian Gulf, opposite the Iranian mainland, allowed the construction of a network of oil pipelines connecting directly to the country's major fieldsExport 90% of the barrels that leave the country every day.
Iran's oil ministry described the island as the "vital nerve center of the sector."However, the same concentration of the export chain made it the most vulnerable point exposed to a possible attack in the midst of a war.
President Donald Trump's administration is considering seizing the island at a meeting on countermeasures against Iran, Axios officials said.Trump hasn't made any recent comments on the island, but signaled his intention to expand targets for strikes against Iran a few days ago.In contrast, Israeli officials supported the Zarq attack.Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid declared that "Iran's economy will be brought to its knees."All energy infrastructure on Jarak Island must be destroyed to overthrow the regime.
Banking giant JP Morgan issued a statement today warning that an attack on the island would disrupt Iran's oil production, leading to "more attacks by Tehran on the region's oil infrastructure" and resulting in a new spike in global crude prices."This is a very dangerous move," Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the AFP news agency.An attack on Iran's economy would also be completely devastating.
The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagheri Qalibaf, has threatened to set fire to the region if the island is attacked."Any aggression against the land of the Iranian islands will break all the restrictions. And we will fill the Persian Gulf with the blood of the invaders," he warned on his social networks.
It was the United States that promoted the use of the island as a strategic point for the export of Iranian crude, when in the 1960s it set up a conglomerate with the country's companies to trade oil.The Islamic Revolution ended American involvement, and it has since become the nerve center of the domestic oil trade.Its network of underwater facilities, storage tanks and long piers that go into deep waters to load oil tankers on both sides of the island, these expose the vulnerability of this strategic point, which was already the target of attacks in the war between Iran and Iraq in the 80s.
Just as Iran began to recover from the war against Iraq, the United States attacked Iranian naval targets in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for placing mines in its sea lanes.Trump said at the time about the island, in the framework of the project called Praying Mantis.1988. "With one of our men or a boat, it could have destroyed Jark Island. They would have gone in and taken everything," he said at the time.
Several American officials supported the mission to capture the islands, despite all the warnings from experts about the serious impact it will have on world markets."At the end of the day, we won't have to worry about these problems in the Strait of Hormuz, because all the oil will come out of the hands of the terrorists," warned Jarrod Agen, executive director of the White House's National Energy Council, in an interview with Fox. For his part, Michael Rubin, a Pentagon adviser during the George W. Bush administration, supported an attack on the island to suppressIran's economy."If they can't sell their own oil, they can't pay their wages," he said.
So far, the United States and Israel have refrained from targeting Jark, although they have attacked Tehran's main fuel depots, causing major oil fires and blanketing the capital in a dark toxic cloud that could cause serious health consequences for millions of citizens.
The crude oil export terminal, however, continues to operate despite the war, according to maritime intelligence firm Tanker Trackers.Iran has exported nearly 13 million barrels of oil since the conflict began on February 28, mostly to China.These data contrast with the paralysis of oil and gas trade in the Strait of Hormuz, paralyzed by Tehran in response to attacks by the US and Israel.
