The Qeshm Island slick likely stemmed from a leak from the Minoan Pioneer, a Liberia-flagged dry bulk ship, said Samir Madani, co-founder of monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
The Minoan Pioneer was hit by an unknown projectile close to Oman’s coast in a suspected Iranian attack while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on August 3 and one seafarer went missing, maritime security sources said.
The same leak likely also affected Qeshm Island, one maritime security source told Reuters.
A spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, said in a post on X that oil pollution from the Gulf had reached Qeshm Island and that preliminary evidence "indicates a foreign bulk carrier as the source".
Reuters could not independently confirm the cause of either slick nor identify the substances involved.
A source involved in the salvage operation for the Minoan Pioneer, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of matter, told Reuters on Friday that a tugboat dispatched to secure the grounded vessel could not approach it due to issues related to obtaining permission from Iranian authorities.
The Iranian Mission in Geneva did not respond to a Reuters request for immediate comment.
The conflict in the region had complicated efforts to assess and clean up spills in the Gulf, said Brian Barnes, a satellite oceanographer and research assistant professor at the University of South Florida.
"The longer that the oil is leaking into an environment, the more it can spread out and cause damage to ecosystems, coastlines."
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