Second Oil Slick Spotted Near Iran’s Kharg Island as Larger Spill Drifts Toward UAE and Qatar

M. local time on 2026-05-11, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward AI. The approximate visible area of the new slick measured between 12 to 20 square kilometers.

N. officials warned the previous day that oil spills in the region could trigger an environmental catastrophe amid the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis. The larger spill, first identified on May 8 west of Kharg Island, covers about 65 square kilometers and is visible in satellite images as a gray-and-white slick.

It is estimated at tens of thousands of barrels. The larger spill has been steadily moving away toward the southwest of Kharg Island, Dr. Kaveh Madani told Fox News Digital. Windward AI reported that the larger spill is believed to be crude rather than bunker fuel.

It is unlikely to have come from a ship and possibly originated from pipeline issues or a failed ship-to-ship transfer. The larger spill could pass through Qatar’s exclusive economic zone within about four days and could have possible landfall near Al Mirfa in the United Arab Emirates in roughly 13 days. Dr.

Kaveh Madani said officials should worry about the cause of the slick and monitor things carefully to see if there are new developments. "If this slick gets bigger, we should be seriously worried about there being a leakage of aging infrastructure," Madani said. The slick is near a zone with a heavy concentration of pipelines and energy infrastructure.

Water circulation in the Persian Gulf is slow, he added. Similar oil spill instances during the Gulf wars and the Iran-Iraq War impacted coastal communities, the fishing industry, marine life and even the intake of desalination plants, Madani said.

There are many tankers in the area. Jafar Pourkabgani, a lawmaker representing Bushehr province, stated the slick was caused by oil residue and ballast water waste from European tankers discharged into the sea.

He added that this claim is false and part of the enemy’s psychological operation. Tehran has pointed to foreign vessels as the cause of the spill. Inspections found no evidence of leaks from storage tanks, pipelines, loading facilities or nearby tankers, according to Iran’s Oil Terminals Company.

The company denied reports of a leak near Kharg Island. Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in late February 2026 following the outbreak of hostilities. Washington is tightening sanctions and increasing its naval presence near the Strait of Hormuz.

The larger spill comes as the vital oil chokepoint remains largely shut and tankers have bottlenecked across the region. Madani noted that as long as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is there and the region is in a war mode, the environment would not be a priority.