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Recent satellite images have uncovered a vast oil slick near Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, sparking concerns that the country’s oil infrastructure may be struggling under intensified U.S. sanctions.
Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel between Wednesday and Friday, the imagery shows the slick spanning approximately 45 square kilometers to the west of the island, as reported by analysts referenced by Reuters.
This incident suggests a significant impact from the Trump administration’s maritime pressure strategy, which aims to cripple Iran’s oil export capabilities, potentially hindering Tehran’s ability to manage and transport crude efficiently, thereby disrupting its production cycle.
The suspected spill has heightened fears over Iran’s capacity to handle and export oil under U.S. restrictions, possibly leading to environmentally hazardous methods in the Persian Gulf as Tehran grapples with storage and export challenges.
The slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters. (Reuters)
“At this stage, I see two plausible explanations, and they’re not mutually exclusive,” Miad Maleki, an Iran sanctions and energy expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
“One is operational: They simply didn’t ramp down extraction fast enough relative to their true onshore capacity and over counted on empty tankers slipping through the blockade,” he said.
“Now they’ve effectively over-delivered crude into the export system, with more oil at or near the terminals than they can actually load, and the ‘solution’ is to push some of that excess into the water.”
Maleki said another possible explanation is mechanical failure tied to Iran’s use of aging tankers as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers.
A suspected oil spill covering dozens of square kilometers of sea near Iran’s main oil hub of Kharg Island has been seen on satellite imagery this week. (European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2 via Reuters)
“They’ve dragged older, marginal tonnage into service as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers, and some of those retired or poorly maintained hulls are now leaking,” he said.
“Either way, the common denominator is the same — storage and evacuation capacity are out of sync with upstream output, and the Gulf is paying the price for that mismatch.”
The incident comes as the Trump administration continues pressing its Economic Fury campaign against Iran, combining sanctions enforcement with a growing U.S. naval presence around the Strait of Hormuz aimed at restricting Iran’s oil exports.
Before the conflict, Iran exported roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, much of it to China. Analysts say the blockade and the threat of sanctions on shipping companies and financial institutions have made it increasingly difficult for Tehran to move crude out of Kharg Island.
Reuters reported the slick appeared as a “grey and white” plume west of the 8-kilometer-long island.Â
Leon Moreland, a researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told Reuters the slick was “visually consistent with oil,” while Louis Goddard, co-founder of Data Desk, said it could be the largest spill since the start of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran roughly 70 days ago.
Kharg Island handles roughly 90% of Iran’s oil exports and has become a critical choke point in the Trump administration’s effort to cut off the regime’s main source of revenue during the ongoing war.
Energy analysts say Iran is now facing a dangerous dilemma. If Iran cannot export oil or find additional storage capacity, it may be forced either to shut down wells, risking long-term damage to oil fields, or dispose of excess crude in ways that could trigger environmental fallout across the Gulf.
A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz on April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
“They’ve already reduced extraction. In a true blockade scenario, the constraint isn’t production at the wellhead, it’s the inability to load tankers at export terminals,” Maleki said.
“Once onshore storage nears capacity, output has to be cut to match remaining headroom or wells get shut in,” he added. “In Iran’s case, that’s roughly 13 days.”
The environmental implications are also raising alarm across the Gulf.
Windward, a maritime risk intelligence firm, estimated the slick was moving southeast at roughly 2 kilometers per hour and warned it could reach Qatar’s exclusive economic zone within days and potentially drift toward the United Arab Emirates within two weeks.
The Gulf’s desalination infrastructure, relied upon by millions across the region, remains especially vulnerable to major oil contamination events.
The spill also is unfolding amid heightened military tensions in the Gulf. The war has trapped hundreds of vessels in the region and caused one of the largest disruptions to global crude and liquefied natural gas supplies in recent years.
An oil tanker near the terminal at Kharg Island, Iran. (Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the suspected spill or its possible causes.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Iran mission to the U.N. for comment.Â