NEW YORK, March 19. /TASS/. The Pentagon is moving a large contingent of Marines to the Middle East, leading some to speculate that the move might be a precursor to seizing islands south of Iran to force Tehran to restore shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

US officials interviewed by the publication said that Washington could seize one or more Iranian islands and use them as bases for further operations or as leverage against Tehran to restore free navigation in the strait. According to the newspaper, the Pentagon last week began transferring the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying about 2,200 Marines, from Japan to the Middle East. They are expected to arrive in the region in about a week.

The news outlet said that potential targets for seizure could include the islands of Hormuz and Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as Kish and Kharg in the Gulf. Kharg hosts Iran’s oil infrastructure and is the most economically significant island, with more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports passing through it. On March 13, US President Donald Trump said that Washington had struck military facilities located there.

On March 2, Major General Ebrahim Jabari of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, warned that the strait, which handles about one-fifth of global oil exports, would be closed to shipping due to the US-Israeli military operation against the Islamic Republic. On March 14, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that passage through the strait was closed only to US and Israeli ships, while other countries were choosing alternative routes "for security reasons."