Larak and Abu Musa
War teaches geography. Two islands in the Strait of Hormuz mentioned as possible landing sites are Larak and Abu Musa along with some immediate surrounding islands.
Karak is right next to Qeshm and Hormuz Island (see our previous post). It is only a few miles from each of them, and only 24 miles (39 kilometers) from Oman, on the other side of the straight. It is possible to seize and hold Larak and leave Qeshm in Iranian hands, but not sure how this does not generate some U.S. casualties. Of course, one can make the same argument for seizing Qeshm and not seizing the Iranian mainland areas a mile or so away from it. The problem is that all these islands are within mortar range of each other and mainland Iran. I gather Iran has 3,000+ mortars, a very annoying weapon that seems to have been forgotten about amid all the discussion of higher-tech rockets, missiles and drones.
Karak island is 19 square miles (49 square kilometers). This is like a little over a quarter of D.C. (28%). It is 266 feet tall (81 meters). All these islands are rough with considerable elevation (which does not make things easier). There are two villages on the island, the largest of 466 people. There is a nice collection of coral reefs off the island.
I gather it has a military base on the island loaded with surface-to-surface missiles in addition to serving as an oil terminal. Two ships were sunk there in 1988. The Iranian Vosper-class frigate Sahand was sunk by the U.S. Navy in 200-meter-deep waters southwest of Larak Island. 45 crew were killed. The Liberian supertanker Seawise Giant was seriously damaged and set on fire by Iraqi antiship missiles while anchored off the coast of Larak Island (see Seawise Giant after the air attack for photos).
The other island in discussion is Abu Musa and its surrounding islands. It is even smaller and is disputed between Iran and UEA. So the U.S. could seize the islands and hand them over to UAE. It is inside the gulf just outside of the Strait of Hormuz. It is just south of the deep water shipping lanes that go to and from the strait.
It is 4.9 square miles (12.8 square kilometers). It is 43 miles (70 kilometers) from the Iranian mainland and 37 miles (59 kilometers) from the UAE mainland. The highest point is the 360 foot (110 meter) Mount Halva. The town of Abu Musa has a population of 1,953 and the entire island has a population of 2,131 (2012).
