US President Donald Trump’s  administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran's Kharg Island to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, four sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios, the latter reports.

Ninety percent of Iran’s oil exports pass through Kharg Island. The US has previously struck the island. Announcing the strike, Trump stressed that oil-related infrastructure was not targeted, but rather military facilities. Iranian authorities have also claimed that oil infrastructure was not damaged.

But the operation to seize the island, 24 kilometers off the coast of Iran, could put US forces directly at risk, and it comes only after the US military has further weakened Iran’s military capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz, the sources told Axios.

"We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, take the island and then get them by the balls and use it for negotiations," a source with knowledge of the White House thinking told Axios.

Such an operation, if approved, would also require more troops. Three different Marine units are on their way to the region. The White House and the Pentagon are considering sending even more troops soon.

The US has always had ground forces in conflicts under every president, including Trump, this has received a lot of media attention, but the president will do what he thinks is right, another source told Axios.

However, experts cautioned that targeting Kharg Island may not deliver the intended outcome. While the island is central to Iran’s oil exports, there is no guarantee that seizing it would compel Tehran to negotiate on Washington’s terms, Axios concluded.