Shafaq News- Tehran

Satellite images captured this week showed what appears to be a large oil spill covering dozens of square kilometers near Iran’s Kharg Island, the country’s main oil export terminal.

Images taken between May 6 and May 8 by the Copernicus Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and Sentinel-3 satellites showed a gray-and-white slick spreading across waters west of the island.

Leon Moreland, a researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, indicated that the shape of the slick was visually consistent with oil and estimated its size at around 45 km2.

Louis Goddard, co-founder of climate and commodities consultancy Data Desk, agreed with the assessment, describing it as potentially the largest oil spill since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran roughly 70 days ago.

The cause and source of the suspected leak remain unclear, while imagery from today showed no signs of an active ongoing discharge, according to Moreland.

Kharg Island handles nearly 90% of Iran’s oil exports, most of which are shipped to China. US forces previously indicated they had struck military targets on the island earlier in the war.

The conflict has disrupted energy flows across the Gulf, leaving hundreds of vessels stranded and contributing to one of the largest interruptions to global crude supplies, alongside wider impacts on refined fuel and liquefied natural gas markets.

Read more: Force without a finish line: Iran is losing the war, the US is losing the endgame