Yoav Gallant: How to Finish the Job in Iran

“On the strategic chessboard of this war, Kharg Island is the next piece. If it is going to be made, it must be made now.”

thefp.com - Yoav gallant how to finish the job

Taking Kharg Island is seen as key to opening Hormuz. There are better options

Iran could continue for weeks or months attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and striking energy infrastructure in Gulf states before the economic pain brings it to its knees.

And there are plenty of other, less risky ways to deny Iran the ability to export gas, if that is the leverage Trump wants to use. It wouldn’t be very hard to stop ships carrying Iranian oil in the Persian Gulf or out in the Arabian Sea. The US could also steadily destroy Iranian facilities on the island from the air as long as Tehran refuses to meet US terms or at least to reopen the Strait.

timesofisrael.com - Taking kharg island is seen as key to opening hormuz there are better options

Who is Yoav Gallant? IDF General, and former Defense Minister. What has he done? According to the International Criminal Court: (from the net sifter)

On November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza between October 2023 and May 2024.

ICC Charges and Allegations

The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber found "reasonable grounds" to believe Gallant is criminally responsible for:

War crimes: Starvation of civilians and intentional attacks against the civilian population.

Crimes against humanity: Murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

Given that record, it's understandable that he would take a light view of USian troops dying for Israel.

Personally, I would take all the chatter about Kharg as misdirection. Gallant seems to think Iran would not hit back at US troops on Kharg, for fear of damaging the oil handling facilities. He would need to be missing the larger picture: Iran could still take potshots at everyone else's traffic in the Strait. He's a General. He probably would not miss that. If Trump the Living God is stupid/spineless enough to commit ground troops, I would expect the assault to be on a couple islands on the Iranian side of the strait, to shoot down anything Iran fired at traffic, while the US bombs the oil facilities on Kharg, as, by themselves, the oil exported from that port is a minor share of what flows through the Gulf.

Of course, putting our guys on islands only a few miles offshore Iran, will reenact the siege of Khe Sanh. Iranians would be able to rain cheap drones and rockets on our guys at will, just as the NVA did nearly 60 years ago, in spite of intense US air support.

Steve