Iran is demanding compensation for a major oil spill that reached its shores this week, but assessments suggest the regime in Tehran caused the leak itself. The spill came after Iran attacked a tanker trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz, a critical international shipping route.
2+Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Thursday that Iran is battling an oil spill along the Strait of Hormuz and claimed a “foreign cargo carrier” is likely the source. However, according to tankertrackers.com, the leak was likely caused by the tanker “Minoan Pioneer,” which was attacked by Iran on August 3 while sailing in Omani waters.
Satellite images show how the oil spill moved eastward toward Iran’s Qeshm Island, with the dark trail visible near the coastal village of Shib Deraz. Nearly 8 acres of coastal area were damaged by the spill, and about 22 acres of water were also affected, according to the Department of Environment in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province.
2+Baghaei, who did not address reports that the Iranian attack itself caused the leak, hinted it was caused by the actions of foreign companies or governments that destroyed the Islamic Republic’s waters. “This incident is only one visible example of the extensive pollution—both overt and concealed—that has degraded the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, as well as the region’s marine ecosystem, over recent decades, imposing trillions of dollars in damage on Iran’s coastal areas,” Baghaei wrote on X.
“Who bears responsibility for compensating these damages? Is it the nations that consume the inexpensive energy exported from our region, the shipping insurers, or the aggressors and their partners who have transformed the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman into a theater for military operations and the testing of highly destructive weaponry??” Baghaei asked. Iran’s latest demand comes after the Islamic Republic insisted that the U.S. must pay for damages caused by the current war and the war in July last year before the Strait of Hormuz can be reopened.
2+President Donald Trump condemned such demands and claimed the U.S. has full control over the strait, as the naval blockade continues to take a heavy toll on Iran’s economy. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains dangerous as the war continues, with traffic dropping to fewer than a dozen ships per day in the past week, according to ship tracking data. The oil spill comes as another oil slick is spreading rapidly in Oman after a tanker ran aground, threatening protected marine life in the area.