Trump blockade squeezing Iran so hard regime may be dumping oil into Gulf, experts say
Satellite images have revealed a large slick of suspicious oil spreading near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal. Experts say this could be evidence that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is collapsing under increasing US pressure.
The layer of water seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday covered about 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters.
The incident emerges as a potential sign of Trump’s stance Maritime pressure campaign succeeds one of its key goals: to crush Iran’s export system to the point where Tehran can no longer transport or store crude oil fast enough to maintain normal production.
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The suspected leak near Iran’s main oil hub is raising concerns that mounting U.S. pressure is overwhelming Tehran’s ability to store or export crude, potentially forcing risky workarounds with environmental consequences in the Gulf.
The layer of water seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday covered about 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters.
(Reuters)
“At this stage, I see two plausible explanations, and they are not mutually exclusive,” Miad Maleki said. Iran sanctions He spoke to Fox News Digital as an energy expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“One is operational: they did not reduce the landing fast enough relative to their actual ground capacity and over-accounted for empty tankers to breach the blockade,” he said.
“With more oil now at or near terminals than they can actually load, they have effectively presented too much crude oil to the export system, and the ‘solution’ is to push some of that excess into oil. This“
Maleki said another possible explanation is mechanical failure due to Iran’s use of aging tankers as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers.
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A suspicious oil spill covering dozens of square kilometers of sea near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil hub, was spotted on satellite images this week.
“They have pressed older, marginal tonnage into service as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers, and some of the decommissioned or poorly maintained hulls are now leaking,” he said.
“The common denominator in both cases is the same; storage and discharge capacity are out of sync with upstream production, and the Gulf is paying the price for this mismatch.”
The incident was caused by the Trump administration’s “Economic AngerThe campaign against Iran aims to restrict Iran’s oil exports by combining the enforcement of sanctions with the growing US naval presence around the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the conflict, Iran exported approximately 1.5 million Most barrels of oil per day go to China. Analysts say blockades and the threat of sanctions against shipping companies and financial institutions are making it increasingly difficult for Tehran to extract crude oil from Kharg Island.
Reuters reported that the water table appeared as a “gray and white” cloud to the west of the 8-kilometre-long island.
Leon Moreland, a researcher at the Observatory on Conflict and Environment, told Reuters the spill was “visually consistent with oil”, while Louis Goddard, co-founder of consultancy Data Desk, said it could be the biggest spill since the beginning of the US.Israel War against Iran about 70 days ago.
Kharg Island handles about 90% Affecting a significant portion of Iran’s oil exports, it has become a critical choke point in the Trump administration’s efforts to cut off the regime’s main source of revenue during the ongoing war.
Energy analysts say Iran now faces a dangerous dilemma. If Iran cannot export oil or find additional storage capacity, it may be forced to do either Closing wells poses long-term risks damaging oil fields or disposing of excess crude oil in ways that could trigger environmental pollution across the Gulf.
“They have already reduced the extraction. In a real blockade scenario, the restriction is not the production at the wellhead, but the inability of tankers to be loaded at export terminals,” Maleki said.
“Once it approaches onshore storage capacity, production must be curtailed to accommodate the remaining headroom, otherwise the wells will be shut down,” he added. “In Iran’s case it’s about 13 days.”
Environmental impacts are also causing alarm across the Gulf.
Maritime risk intelligence firm Windward estimated that the water table was moving southeastward at a speed of about 2 kilometers per hour and warned that it could reach Qatar’s exclusive economic zone within a few days and potentially drift landward. United Arab Emirates in two weeks.
The Gulf’s desalination infrastructure, relied on by millions of people in the region, remains particularly vulnerable to major oil pollution events.
The leak also comes amid rising military tensions in the Gulf. There is war Hundreds of ships are stranded It caused one of the largest disruptions in global crude and liquefied natural gas supplies in the region in recent years.
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An oil tanker is seen near the terminal on Iran’s Kharg Island as US officials and analysts evaluate whether capturing the island would significantly impact Iran’s oil exports.
Iranian officials have not commented publicly on the suspected leak or its possible causes.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Iranian mission to the UN for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Original article source: Experts say Trump’s blockade is squeezing Iran and the harsh regime may be pouring oil into the Gulf
