Iran is demanding compensation for an oil spill that reached its shores this week — which the regime allegedly caused itself after it attacked a tanker trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Thursday that the country was fighting an oil spill along the Strait of Hormuz and claimed that a “foreign bulk carrier” appeared to be the source.
But the spill was likely from the Minoan Pioneer, a bulk carrier that was attacked by Iran on Aug. 3 while sailing in Omani waters, according to TrankerTrackers.com.
Satellite images show how the oil spill moved eastward towards Iran’s Qeshm Island, with the dark trail spotted near the coastal village of Shib Deraz.
Nearly 8 acres of coastal area have been affected by the spill, with some 22 acres of water also affected by the spill, according to the Environmental Protection Department in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan.
Baqaei, who did not acknowledge reports that Iran’s own attack was to blame for the spill, suggested it was caused by the actions of foreign companies or governments destroying 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,” Bagaei 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?” he asked.
Iran’s latest demand comes after the Islamic republic insisted the US must pay for damages caused by the current war and last year’s July war before the Strait of Hormuz can be reopened.
President Trump has slammed such demands and claimed the US has full control of the strait as the naval blockade continues to take a toll on Iran’s economy.
Travel through the Strait of Hormuz remains risky as the war continues, with traffic dipping to fewer than a dozen ships a day in the past week, according to ship tracking data.
The oil spill comes as another slick is spreading quickly in Oman after a tanker ran aground, endangering protected marine life in the area.
With Post Wires
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