Tanker Strikes Leave Oil Slicks Across Gulf Waters, Greenpeace Says

Greenpeace has identified more than 500 oil spills across the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea since the war between the United States and Iran began on 28 February, using satellite monitoring. The spills follow attacks on oil tankers, and dark slicks from them can be seen from space, according to The Guardian.

The organisation says more than 133 attacks on oil tankers have taken place since the conflict began. Throughout October, tankers in the Strait of Hormuz were hit by missiles or sea mines, and crude oil spilled into the water. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research group, counted more than 30 confirmed or reported attacks in the strait and surrounding waters that month, making October the worst month of the conflict so far.

The strait is the only maritime passage between the Gulf and the Arabian Sea, so ships carrying oil from the Gulf must pass through it. Oil washed up on a beach in Umm Al Quwain, in the United Arab Emirates, on 24 October.

Greenpeace expert Nina Noelle said the cumulative daily mapped footprints of the spills total approximately 20,000 square kilometres, an area almost the size of Wales. Greenpeace has described the situation in the Strait of Hormuz as an ecological catastrophe in a report, according to Deutsche Welle.

Some of the slicks have reached protected areas. One was identified near Musandam National Park in Oman, which contains coral reefs, sea life and breeding grounds for sea birds. Another was found close to the Minab River Delta in Iran, where there are protected mudflats and mangrove forests. Earlier in the conflict, a Russian tanker carrying about 800,000 barrels of oil was stranded off the coast of Oman in June, causing a major spill, according to the same Deutsche Welle report.

Greenpeace has said that as many as 85 large oil-laden tankers were stuck in the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the war, a number it says has since fallen to 13.

The monitoring relies on public satellite images. Greenpeace uses Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery, which comes from the European Union's Earth observation programme. Private provider Planet Labs has limited access to its imagery during the war to stop its data being used for military targeting. Widespread GPS spoofing in the region also means some ships broadcast false positions, which complicates tracking of vessels.