Two separate oil spills in the Gulf are causing significant environmental damage, with Iran now demanding compensation for what it calls decades of pollution. The incidents highlight the ecological risks of maritime traffic in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, especially amid ongoing regional tensions.
Earlier this week, dark oily residues appeared on the shores of Qeshm Island, Iran's largest island in the Persian Gulf. The slick spread from Soza beach to the Shib Deraz area and the Hara mangrove forests near the village of Naqasheh. Iranian environmental officials said cleanup operations had largely cleared the visible oil by Wednesday evening, but monitoring continues.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has pointed to a foreign bulk carrier as the likely source and called for compensation. Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei stated that restoring the marine ecosystem of the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, and the Sea of Oman must be part of any future management arrangements for the waterway. He added that all parties benefiting from commercial shipping have a legal and moral responsibility to address the environmental damage.
Baghaei went further, claiming the incident is "only one example" of decades of pollution that has caused "trillion-dollar damage to Iran's coastal areas." He questioned who should pay: the countries consuming the region's cheap exported energy, shipping insurance companies, or the aggressor parties and their partners.
Source of the Qeshm spill
Maritime monitoring service TankerTrackers said satellite imagery indicates the slick most likely came from the Minoan Pioneer, a Liberia-flagged, Greek-managed bulk carrier struck by a projectile on 3 August about 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate. The attack caused a fire, a complete engine room blackout, and left one crew member missing. Several maritime security firms attribute the attack to Iranian forces, citing historical patterns, though Iran has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
TankerTrackers noted that the spillage drifted across the strait to Iran, calling it "a self-inflicted wound by Iran." However, international compensation rules complicate Iran's position: the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds explicitly exclude liability for damage caused by an act of war or hostilities.
Qeshm Island, covering around 1,500 square kilometres, is home to the Hara mangrove forests, which span an estimated 20,000 hectares and serve as critical breeding and feeding grounds for fish, migratory birds, and marine mammals. The island's southern coasts are also nesting sites for the hawksbill sea turtle, listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Oman: Russian shadow fleet tanker leaking
About 500 kilometres to the south-east, a second environmental crisis is unfolding. The Caroline Bezengi, a Suezmax tanker carrying roughly 1 million barrels of Russian crude, has been leaking since running aground on the Hallaniyat Islands off Oman's Dhofar coast in June. The vessel left Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in April and was hit by an explosion on 8 June while off the coast of Yemen. The crew was evacuated without injury, and the tanker subsequently grounded on rocks near Jazirat Al Qibliyyah.
No party has claimed responsibility for the explosion. The EU and UK have sanctioned the Caroline Bezengi for transporting Russian crude; its registered owner and operator are both based in China. The spill has grown rapidly: from 45 square kilometres on 26 July to around 150 square kilometres by 2 August, 390 square kilometres by Oman's own assessment on Monday, and more than 2,000 square kilometres according to satellite imagery analysis by Reuters on Wednesday.
Oil has reached beaches at Ras Madrakah on the Omani mainland, fouling up to 40 kilometres of coastline. The International Maritime Organization confirmed the oil had reached shore on Wednesday. The Hallaniyat Islands, designated a nature reserve by Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tarik last year, support Arabian Sea humpback whales, Socotra cormorants, endangered sea turtles, and coral reefs. The monsoon season, from June to September, brings unpredictable sea and weather conditions that complicate cleanup efforts.
These spills underscore the broader environmental threats facing the region, which are also relevant to Europe's own water reserves and the global push for stricter shipping regulations. As the Gulf's strategic waterways remain a flashpoint, the ecological toll of maritime incidents is becoming harder to ignore.
