Ships transit the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, on Aug. 10, 2026. (Credit: Atta Kenare/AFP)
Iran has warned of environmental damage in the Strait of Hormuz after an oil slick reached the island of Qeshm, in the south of the country, and has demanded compensation for the damage caused.
“Initial findings suggest that a foreign bulk carrier may be responsible” for the pollution, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on X.
He argued that “any party benefiting from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has a legal and moral obligation to repair the environmental damage” caused.
However, according to the maritime tracking website TankerTrackers, “the oil spill appears to have originated from the Iranian attack on the bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer,” which took place in Omani waters on Aug. 3. "The oil spill then drifted through the strait into Iran," the website states.
The head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, Sheena Ansari, also condemned the incident on Thursday on X. "This is just one example of the widespread pollution that has destroyed the region's marine ecosystem over the past few decades," she wrote. "Who is responsible for compensating the damage? The countries that consume our region's energy exports, or the aggressors who have turned this region into a base for military operations?"
According to Habib Masihi, head of the environmental protection department in the southern province of Hormozgan, "the pollution in the south of Qeshm Island was almost entirely cleaned up by Wednesday evening." He specified that the affected coastal area covered approximately 32,000 square meters and the affected aquatic area some 90,000 square meters.
Iran has controlled the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Middle East war, triggered by an Israeli-U.S. offensive on Feb. 28. Tehran has since indicated that it intends to impose navigation fees for services, including environmental protection, on ships transiting through the strait, a proposal firmly opposed by the United States and some countries in the region.
