# Kharg Island

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Kharg Island," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kharg-island/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The island where most of Iran's oil is refined, and in John Kiriakou's assessment a standing target whose destruction would be a crisis for world oil prices. It was bombed in the 1980s, causing a global price shock; Kiriakou considers a repeat by the United States or Israel possible, and expects the Iranians to answer it rather than absorb it.*

- **Significance:** Where most of Iran's oil is refined
- **Previously struck:** The 1980s, causing a global oil price shock
- **Per Kiriakou:** A repeat strike would be 'a crisis for oil prices'
- **Expected Iranian response:** 'They would come out swinging'

**Kharg Island** is, in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s description, *"where most of Iran's oil is refined."* Asked in January 2026 about the theory that a strike on it would destroy the world's oil economy, he treated the precedent as settled: it *"was bombed in the 1980s. It caused a global oil price shock."*[1]

On whether it happens again he is conditional rather than predictive. It is *"possible that the West, meaning the United States and/or Israel, could bomb it again."*[1]

What he will not accept is the premise that Iran would simply absorb the loss. *"If that were to happen, I think the Iranians, having learned their lesson in earlier decades, would come out swinging — and it would just be a crisis for oil prices."*[2]

The assessment sits alongside his reading of the same month's [naval movements](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/watching-naval-movements), which led him to conclude that no American strike on Iran was then possible at all.[3]

## See also

- [Watching naval movements](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/watching-naval-movements)
- [Mohammad Reza Pahlavi](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mohammad-reza-pahlavi)

## Sources

1. The Fix Is In / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-13), at 42:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdzab0KqbA8&t=2566s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-13-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-the-fix-is-in-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-joh/
2. The Fix Is In / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-13), at 43:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdzab0KqbA8&t=2597s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-13-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-the-fix-is-in-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-joh/
3. The Fix Is In / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-13), at 21:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdzab0KqbA8&t=1283s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-13-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-the-fix-is-in-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-joh/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kharg-island/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt