Island off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf.
Kharg Island, located about 30 miles from the Iranian mainland, historically has been associated with Iran, although the British occupied it briefly in 1838. The discovery of an offshore oil field in the waters around Kharg in the early 1960s stimulated the development of the island as a site for major petroleum and petrochemical installations. Connection by pipelines to the underwater oil fields, as well to the oil fields in Khuzistan, transformed Kharg into Iran's largest oil-loading terminal by the early 1970s. During the Iran - Iraq war (1980 - 1988), Kharg repeatedly was bombed, and its oil facilities suffered extensive damage, but they were reconstructed in the early 1990s.
Bibliography
Ramazani, R. K. Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response in theMiddle East. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.
— NEGUIN YAVARI
UPDATED BY ERIC HOOGLUND
