Oil Pollution Around the Strait of Hormuz: How the War Has Worsened the Environmental Damage

From the Arabian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman to the Arabian Sea, the months of war have left an environmental footprint extending well beyond the ships and facilities targeted in the fighting. Oil slicks have appeared around vessels damaged during military operations, while some spills have spread toward coastlines, protected areas and wetlands in a marine ecosystem highly vulnerable to oil pollution.

Since the war began on February 28, satellite imagery, maritime tracking data and maritime reports have documented a series of pollution incidents linked to attacks on vessels and facilities. These include the Iranian drone carrier Shahid Bagheri near the Khoran Strait, tankers off Jask, and the MINOAN PIONEER cargo ship, which was struck off Oman on August 3 before oil slicks later appeared near Qeshm and Hengam. Available evidence suggests that some of these slicks were linked to the vessel’s fuel.

In this report, Misbar’s team at Al Araby TV traces the spread of these spills by analyzing satellite imagery, maritime tracking data and environmental sources. The report documents how the effects of some incidents have extended from attack sites to coastlines and protected areas, placing additional pressure on the region’s already vulnerable marine ecosystem.

The CAROLINE BEZENGI incident added to those environmental risks. An explosion preceded the tanker’s loss of control and subsequent grounding off Oman, resulting in a large spill of Russian oil in a maritime environment already affected by repeated attacks and pollution incidents.

These incidents show how the environmental consequences of war intersect with the risks posed by the shadow fleet and heavy maritime traffic. The oil slicks spreading between Oman and Qeshm demonstrate how an incident involving a single vessel can have environmental consequences far beyond the site of the original incident.

Major Oil Spill Raises Environmental Concerns Along Oman’s Coast

On August 10, Omani authorities said they were continuing efforts to address the oil spill from the tanker CAROLINE BEZENGI, which had been grounded off the western tip of Al Qibliyah Island after leaking oil for at least a month. The authorities said they were working to contain the leak while carrying out environmental monitoring and assessments to identify affected areas and determine where protection measures were needed.

Satellite imagery captured on August 7 and analyzed by Misbar’s team shows the oil slick associated with the tanker spreading away from the vessel and approaching Oman’s mainland coastline.

Omani authorities estimated the slick covered about 390 square kilometers. However, Misbar’s analysis of a Sentinel-1 image captured on August 7 showed a visible slick spanning approximately 2,200 square kilometers and extending as far as Ras Madrakah, more than 220 kilometers from the tanker’s location.

By August 12, Omani authorities confirmed that parts of the Ras Madrakah coastline had been affected. The Environment Authority said the pollution could eventually affect up to 40 kilometers of coastline in the area, with the impact potentially extending to about 20 kilometers of beaches on Masirah Island.

In an update issued on August 15, the authority said approximately 12 kilometers of the Ras Madrakah coastline had been affected, while no signs of pollution had been detected along Masirah Island’s beaches.

The tanker, identified by IMO number 9224439, was carrying Russian oil bound for India, according to maritime tracking data. Reuters cited estimates that the tanker was carrying at least 800,000 barrels of oil.

The vessel was previously registered under the Cameroonian flag but was among 39 vessels removed from Cameroon’s registry in June 2026, amid reports linking several of them to Russia’s shadow fleet.

Satellite imagery captured on August 12 shows parts of the tanker partially submerged, with signs of oil pollution still visible around the vessel.

The oil slick around the tanker and Al Qibliyah Island also appeared denser and more extensive than in the August 7 image, consistent with the possibility that the leak was continuing. However, satellite imagery alone cannot determine whether the change was caused by a new release of oil.

John Amos, CEO of the oil-spill monitoring platform SkyTruth, estimated that the amount of oil visible in the August 7 image was about 580,000 gallons, or roughly 13,800 barrels.

Amos based his estimate on an assumed average oil-film thickness of one micron, which falls within the range used to estimate spill volumes from satellite imagery, including in a peer-reviewed study published in April 2023.

The estimated slick area of 2,200 square kilometers is equivalent to 2.2 billion square meters. At an assumed oil-film thickness of one micron, this would correspond to a theoretical volume of approximately 2,200 cubic meters of oil visible in the image.

That volume is equivalent to about 581,000 gallons, or roughly 13,800 barrels, consistent with Amos’ estimate.

The figure is not an estimate of the total amount of oil spilled since the incident began. Rather, it represents the estimated volume of oil visible in a single satellite image and can vary significantly depending on the assumed thickness of the oil film. As a result, comparing it with the tanker’s estimated cargo of at least 800,000 barrels does not establish what proportion of the cargo has spilled.

Current patterns shown by Earth Nullschool indicate a general northward and northeastward flow during the observation period. This is consistent with the pollution spreading away from the tanker, but it does not establish whether the increase in slick density observed on August 12 resulted from a new oil release or from changes in the movement and distribution of oil already in the water.

CAROLINE BEZENGI: What We Know About the Explosion

The cause of the CAROLINE BEZENGI incident remains unclear. The tanker is under sanctions and has been linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, but that does not establish that it was attacked or indicate who may have been responsible.

The first publicly reported indication of the incident came on June 8, when the vessel was off the Yemeni coast in the Gulf of Aden. Its crew reported via VHF radio that they suspected the tanker had been attacked with a bomb.

The Regional Maritime Information-Sharing Centre (ReMISC) likewise classified the incident as a “bomb attack,” while noting that no oil pollution from the vessel had been detected at the time.

TradeWinds later reported that the tanker may have been struck by a limpet mine, citing sources who suggested that Ukraine could have been responsible. However, no conclusive public evidence has emerged to support that claim. On August 13, Reuters reported that the tanker “appeared to have been attacked,” without identifying those responsible.

It is established that the vessel suffered an explosion before losing control and drifting from the Gulf of Aden until it ran aground near Al Qibliyah Island in the Hallaniyat Islands archipelago. Whether the explosion was the result of a deliberate attack, and who may have carried it out, remain unproven based on the publicly available evidence.

The CAROLINE BEZENGI incident therefore cannot be attributed directly to the war between Iran and Israel. It nevertheless added a significant pollution event to a maritime area that has experienced a series of other spills linked to attacks on vessels and facilities during the war. The trail of those incidents leads back to the Strait of Hormuz itself.

Marine Biodiversity Under Threat From the CAROLINE BEZENGI Oil Spill

The CAROLINE BEZENGI spill threatens a highly sensitive marine ecosystem. In November 2025, Oman designated the Hallaniyat Islands archipelago as a nature reserve by royal decree, citing its rich biodiversity, which includes sea turtles and their nesting grounds, whales and dolphins, seagrass and coral reefs, as well as breeding and nesting sites for seabirds and migratory birds.

The Ras Madrakah area, where the pollution has reached the coast, is home to nesting sites for green and loggerhead turtles, as well as important beaches for migratory birds. Some of these species are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, according to an environmental report issued by the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.

The waters between Ras Madrakah and Masirah Island are particularly vulnerable because large areas are less than 30 meters deep. These shallow waters increase the likelihood that spilled oil will remain close to shore and accumulate along beaches or on the seabed rather than disperse into deeper waters.

A peer-reviewed study published in 2022 supports this assessment. Its modeling of oil-spill movement in the area found that oil reaching the coastline tends to remain there or settle on the shallow seabed. Omani authorities have already confirmed that the current spill has affected beaches in Ras Madrakah.

MINOAN PIONEER Spill Raises Environmental Risks in the Strait of Hormuz

A major oil spill off Iran’s Qeshm Island had already added to the environmental risks in the Strait of Hormuz when the CAROLINE BEZENGI spill reached Oman’s shores.

Although the available evidence does not indicate a direct connection between the two incidents, their occurrence within the same interconnected maritime area highlights the mounting environmental risks in a region already under pressure from war and disruptions to commercial shipping.

Satellite imagery showed oil slicks around Qeshm Island, which lies along the Strait of Hormuz, while videos circulated showing the pollution reaching Iran’s coastline.

Misbar’s team identified an oil slick covering at least 27 square kilometers in an image captured on August 10. The slick was located in the strait between Qeshm and Hengam islands, an area characterized by shallow waters.

A larger slick, covering approximately 160 square kilometers, was also visible east and south of Hengam Island in imagery captured the same day. The imagery suggests that the two slicks may have been connected along the island’s northeastern side.

TankerTrackers and other independent sources linked the spill to a cargo ship that was attacked off the Omani coast on August 3. Sentinel-2 imagery captured on August 5 shows an oil slick surrounding a vessel located about 8 kilometers from Oman’s Musandam Peninsula. Some sources have suggested that Iran may have been responsible for the attack, but the available public evidence does not conclusively establish who carried it out.

Shortwave infrared (SWIR) analysis of the imagery showed a signal consistent with an ongoing fire aboard the vessel.

The vessel was the MINOAN PIONEER, IMO number 9471630, a Liberia-flagged bulk carrier. On August 3, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the vessel’s crew reported that it had been struck by an unidentified projectile, causing a fire in the engine room.

Satellite imagery indicates that the fire aboard the MINOAN PIONEER continued for at least two days. The vessel is approximately 229.2 meters long and 38 meters wide, with a maximum deadweight tonnage of 93,283 tons.

Specifications for vessels of similar class and dimensions indicate that their fuel tanks can hold up to about 3,500 tons. No publicly available data, however, confirms the fuel-tank capacity of the MINOAN PIONEER itself.

Water-current patterns in the days following the attack also support the possibility that the vessel was connected to the slicks observed near Qeshm and Hengam. The currents were consistent with pollution moving from the waters around Musandam toward Hengam Island. This alignment alone, however, is not sufficient to establish the source of the spill.

Reuters quoted Wim Zwijnenburg, an environmental researcher specializing in open-source investigations at PAX, as saying that the darker portions of the slicks observed in the Strait of Hormuz were consistent with heavy fuel oil, while the lighter areas could indicate lighter fuel. According to Zwijnenburg, this supported the possibility that at least some of the pollution was linked to fuel from the MINOAN PIONEER.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei likewise said in an official post on X that preliminary evidence indicated that a foreign cargo ship was the source of the spill.

The MINOAN PIONEER incident illustrates how the environmental impact of a maritime incident can extend well beyond the vessel itself. Currents can carry pollution from the site of an incident to coastlines and islands dozens of kilometers away.

Oil Pollution Threatens Vulnerable Ecosystems in the Gulf

The environmental risks posed by the spills off Oman and Qeshm are heightened by the vulnerability of the marine environment in the affected area. The Arabian Gulf is a relatively shallow, semi-enclosed body of water whose waters take years to renew. Its coastline is also home to wetlands and mangrove forests, ecosystems that are particularly sensitive to oil pollution.

An analysis by Misbar’s team of a map based on data from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), part of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), shows that protected areas extend along roughly 70% of the Gulf’s coastline on both sides. Large parts of the Strait of Hormuz also fall within protected areas, while wetlands and mangrove forests are among the ecosystems classified and monitored for their vulnerability to oil pollution.

The environmental risks in the region did not begin with the spills off Qeshm and Oman. Satellite imagery shows previous incidents involving vessels and facilities that were attacked during the early weeks of the war, with some occurring near protected areas and environmentally sensitive wetlands.

Oil Spill Risks Rise Near Jask and Kuwait’s Shuaiba Coast

On May 9, Misbar’s team detected signs of oil spills around three tankers off the Iranian port of Jask, including indications that one of the vessels was on fire. The tankers were located near a protected marine area that includes mangrove forests and habitats for migratory birds.

Sentinel-2 imagery captured on May 14 and processed using the Oil Spill Index (OSI) showed what appeared to be a persistent surface slick around the same tanker that had been seen on fire five days earlier. The imagery alone, however, cannot determine the nature of the substance.

In Kuwait, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) announced on April 5 that Iranian drones had targeted some of its facilities. The following morning, Sentinel-2 imagery showed smoke rising from a facility in the coastal Shuaiba area near Al Ahmadi Port.

Misbar’s team also detected a suspected oil slick measuring about 4.5 kilometers in length in the same maritime area, off the North and South Shuaiba desalination plants. The finding raises concerns beyond environmental damage, including potential risks to facilities that rely on seawater intake.

Oil Spill From Iranian Drone Carrier Shahid Bagheri

One of the earliest incidents documented by Misbar’s team involved the Iranian drone carrier Shahid Bagheri, which continued to show signs of an oil leak for more than six weeks after it was targeted at the beginning of the war. By March 16, the visible slick covered at least 22 square kilometers.

The slick later expanded and gradually moved toward the Khoran Strait and the Hara mangrove forests, part of a wetland area designated under the Ramsar Convention.

Tim Richards, a consultant specializing in satellite remote sensing, said heavy rainfall in late March likely contributed to mixing the oil with mud and sediment carried by runoff.

Nullschool maps also show water eddies in the Strait of Hormuz during April. Richards suggested that these currents may have slowed the oil’s eastward movement and pushed some of it toward protected wetlands and mangrove forests.

The incidents documented from the Shahid Bagheri to Jask and Qeshm illustrate how the environmental impact of maritime incidents can extend well beyond the site of an attack, as currents carry spilled oil toward coastlines and protected areas. The risks in the Gulf also extend beyond natural ecosystems. The region relies heavily on seawater for desalination, meaning oil pollution near seawater intake facilities could also pose risks to water security.

Satellite imagery and maritime tracking data show that the effects of several war-related oil pollution incidents in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz have extended to coastlines and protected areas.

The incidents documented off Oman and Qeshm, along with earlier cases off Jask and Shuaiba and the oil leak from the Shahid Bagheri, demonstrate how marine currents can carry spilled oil far from the sites of incidents, increasing the risks to sensitive ecosystems and desalination facilities across the region.

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