Trump blockade squeezing Iran so hard regime may be dumping oil into Gulf, experts say
Satellite images show a 45-square-kilometer slick near Kharg Island as Iran's export system buckles under U.S. pressure
By Efrat Lachter Fox News
Published May 8, 2026 3:42pm EDT
Satellite imagery revealed a massive suspected oil slick spreading near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, in what experts say could be evidence that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is buckling under mounting U.S. pressure.
The slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters.
The incident is emerging as a potential sign that Trump’s maritime pressure campaign is achieving one of its central objectives: overwhelming Iran’s export system to the point where Tehran can no longer move or store crude fast enough to sustain normal production.
The suspected spill 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 slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers 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," Miad Maleki, an Iran sanctions and energy expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
"One is operational: they simply didn’t ramp down extraction fast enough relative to their true onshore capacity and over-counted on empty tankers slipping through the blockade," he said.
"Now they’ve effectively over-delivered crude into the export system, with more oil at or near the terminals than they can actually load, and the ‘solution’ is to push some of that excess into the water."
Maleki said another possible explanation is mechanical failure tied to Iran’s use of aging tankers as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers.
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