Iran warned on Thursday of environmental degradation in the Strait of Hormuz after an oil spill reached its southern Qeshm island, calling for compensation from those responsible.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the slick had “degraded the waters” of the Gulf and Sea of Oman, claiming “preliminary evidence indicates a foreign bulk carrier as the source”.
TankerTrackers, a US-hosted website that monitors shipping movements worldwide, said however that the spill seemed to derive from an Iranian attack on bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer in Omani waters on August 3.
“The spillage then drifted across the strait over to Iran,” it said.
Baqaei wrote on X that such spills have in “recent decades imposed trillions of dollars in damage on Iran’s coastal areas”, calling for compensation.
“Every party that benefits from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz carries both a legal and a moral obligation to remediate the environmental harm inflicted,” he added.
