Firing broke out between America and Iran as tensions increased due to the ongoing blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino lead coverage on rising US-Iran tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, with new US air strikes against tankers trying to break the Iranian blockade. President Trump dismissed past Iranian attacks as a “love tap”, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed strong US retaliation for threats against Americans. Former NSC senior director Michael Allen highlighted US economic tightness and said more than 70 tankers were blocked.
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Satellite imagery has revealed a massive suspected oil slick spreading near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, in what experts say may be evidence that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is faltering under increasing US pressure.
The fragment, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered about 45 square kilometers on the west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters.
The incident is emerging as a possible sign that Trump’s maritime pressure campaign is achieving one of its central objectives: crippling Iran’s export system to the point where Tehran can no longer move or store crude fast enough to maintain normal production.
US economic pressure on Iran reaches peak as threat of collapse looms
A suspected leak near Iran’s main oil hub is raising concerns that increasing US pressure is straining Tehran’s ability to store or export crude, potentially forcing risky solutions with environmental consequences in the Gulf.
The fragment, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered about 45 square kilometers on the west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters. (Reuters)
“At this stage I see two plausible explanations, and they’re not mutually exclusive,” Miyan Maleki, an Iran sanctions and energy expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
“One is ongoing: they did not reduce evacuations fast enough relative to their actual onshore capacity and relied more on empty tankers slipping through the blockade,” he said.
“Now they have effectively oversupplied crude oil into the export system, have more oil at or near the terminals than they can actually load, and the ‘solution’ is to push some of that excess overboard.”
Maleki said another possible explanation is mechanical failure associated with Iran using older tankers as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers.
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A suspected oil spill covering dozens of square kilometers of sea near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil hub, was spotted on satellite imagery this week. (European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2 via Reuters)
“They have pulled older, marginal tonnage into service as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers, and some of those retired or poorly maintained hulls are now leaking,” he said.
“Either way, the common denominator is the same – storage and withdrawal capacity is out of sync with upstream output, and the Gulf is paying the price for that mismatch.”
The incident comes as the Trump administration continues its “economic rage” campaign against Iran, including the imposition of sanctions along with an increased US naval presence around the Strait of Hormuz aimed at restricting Iran’s oil exports.
Before the conflict, Iran exported about 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, much of it to China. The blockade and the threat of sanctions on shipping companies and financial institutions have made it harder for Tehran to move crude out of Kharg Island, analysts say.
Reuters reported that the fragment appeared as a “grey and white” plume west of the 8 kilometer long island.
Leon Morland, a researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told Reuters the slick was “visually consistent with oil”, while Louis Goddard, co-founder of consultancy Data Desk, said it could be the largest spill since the start of the US-Israel war against Iran nearly 70 days ago.
Kharag Island handles about 90% of Iran’s oil exports and has become a key stumbling block in the Trump administration’s effort 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 could either be forced to shut down wells, risking long-term damage to oil fields, or dispose of excess crude in ways that could trigger environmental degradation across the Gulf.
Expert says US attack on Iran’s major oil center would be in line with Trump’s ‘energy dominance theory’.
On April 22, 2026, a cargo ship headed towards the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. (AP photo)
“They have already reduced withdrawals. In a real blockade scenario, the bottleneck is not production at the wells, but the inability to load tankers at export terminals,” Malecki said.
“Once onshore storage approaches capacity, production has to be cut to match remaining headroom or the wells are shut down,” he said. “In Iran’s case, it’s about 13 days.”
Environmental impacts are also raising concerns across the Gulf.
Maritime risk intelligence firm Windward estimated the slick was moving south-east at about 2 kilometers per hour and warned it could reach Qatar’s exclusive economic zone within days and potentially head towards the United Arab Emirates within two weeks.
The Gulf’s desalination infrastructure, which is relied upon by millions of people across the region, remains particularly vulnerable to major oil contamination events.
This revelation is also coming amid increasing military tension in the Gulf. The war has stranded hundreds of ships in the region and caused one of the largest disruptions to global crude and liquefied natural gas supplies in recent years.
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An oil tanker is seen near a terminal on Iran’s Kharg Island, as US officials and analysts consider whether seizing the island could have a significant impact on Iran’s oil exports. (Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Iranian officials have not commented publicly on the suspected leak or its possible causes.
Fox News Digital contacted the Iran Mission to the United Nations for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
