Qeshm Island, Kharg Island and nuclear materials

...three possibilities that the U.S. could theoretically execute.

Three possibility is seizing Qeshm Island, which sits “in the horseshoe bend of the Strait of Hormuz,” Davis said.

Qeshm Island, off Iran’s southern coast, is the largest island in the Persian Gulf. Located near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, the arrow-shaped island has emerged as a potential U.S. target amid reports that anti-ship missiles, mines, drones and attack craft are being kept there in underground tunnels.

Davis said the second target could be Kharg Island, the centerpiece of Iran’s oil industry, while a third scenario is a raid to capture more than 400 kilograms of reprocessed material, provided the U.S. can locate this and it is sufficiently concentrated to make a raid viable.

Often referred to as its “oil lifeline,” Kharg Island is a coral island located about 15 miles off the coast of mainland Iran.

It is estimated that around 90% of the country’s crude exports pass through it before tankers then travel through the Strait of Hormuz. The island’s economic importance to Iran makes it particularly vulnerable to the threat of military action, although analysts say seizing it would likely require a ground troop operation, which the U.S. has previously appeared reluctant to undertake.

Iran’s Kharg Island is a small — but strategically vital — strip of land located in the northern Persian Gulf, approximately 15 miles offshore from mainland Iran.

“The overall idea is to deny Iran’s capabilities to use those islands,” Kevin Donegan, retired vice admiral and former commander of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, told CNBC’s “Morning Call” on Wednesday.

CNBC