Khark Island, Iran

Khark Island, Iran: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Khark Island is a continental island belonging to Iran, situated in the Persian Gulf approximately 25 kilometres off the Iranian coastline and administered under Bushehr Province. As an island location, its submarine cable connectivity provides a direct link between the island and the broader regional network. One submarine cable lands at Khark Island, connecting it to Kuwait across the Persian Gulf in a short bilateral corridor.

The single cable serving Khark Island, the Kuwait-Iran system, establishes a direct Gulf connection between Iran and Kuwait. This positions the island as a point of bilateral submarine cable infrastructure within the Persian Gulf, supporting regional connectivity rather than intercontinental reach.

Cables Landing at Khark Island

The Kuwait-Iran cable is the sole submarine cable landing at Khark Island. Spanning 380 kilometres, this system received its ready-for-service designation in 2005 and carries a draft status. The cable links Iran and Kuwait, forming a direct bilateral connection across the Persian Gulf. No additional technical specifications are available for this system beyond its length, RFS year, and the two countries it connects.

Regional Context

Within Iran's submarine cable landscape, which spans seven landing points hosting a total of six cables, Khark Island sits among the single-cable landing points alongside Bandar Abbas and Ganaveh. Landing points such as Chabahar, Jask, and Bushehr host more cables, with Chabahar and Jask each serving three systems. With one cable, Khark Island ranks in the top 43 percent of Iranian landing points by cable count, reflecting its modest but established place within the country's submarine cable geography.

Network Role

Khark Island functions as a single-cable terminus rather than a multi-cable hub, with its connectivity defined entirely by the Kuwait-Iran system. The 380-kilometre link it supports is considerably shorter than the Iranian average cable length of 2,871 kilometres, underscoring the purely regional, Gulf-facing nature of this landing point's role. The connection it provides is bilateral, linking two Persian Gulf states directly without onward branching to further international endpoints.

In the broader Persian Gulf submarine cable graph, Khark Island represents Iran's direct cable link to Kuwait, a country-pair connection that would otherwise depend on overland or satellite alternatives. As an island whose connectivity relies on submarine infrastructure by geographic necessity, the Kuwait-Iran cable landing here reflects the practical demand for fixed undersea links between island territories and their neighbouring states.