Kanal13A mysterious attack on an Iranian oil refinery during the Iran war caused an oil spill that affected a nearby Persian Gulf island that’s a protected breeding ground for wildlife, videos and satellite photos show.
The oil-soaked waves lapping onto Shidvar Island, an uninhabited island, represents yet another sign of the ecological damage wrought by the weekslong war, which also saw oily rain fall on Tehran after airstrikes targeted oil facilities there. Iranian attacks on ships passing through the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman also caused environmental damage as well. Mobile phone footage shot April 9 by an Iranian named Ehsan Jalali shows thick black smoke rising after the strike on an oil refinery on Lavan, an island just off mainland Iran near Shidvar.
The footage corresponds with known features of both of the islands and only was posted by Jalali to Instagram in the last few days as Iran’s theocratic government has shut off access to the wider world for weeks. Other footage shot by Jalali shows a lifeless bird and crab covered in oil, while a man holds up a dead fish. Satellite photographs from an Airbus DS Pléiades Neo taken April 10 and analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday show the fire still burning at the refinery two days after the attack. An oil slick stains the surrounding waters of the Persian Gulf, wrapping around Shidvar Island, which is also known locally as Maroo Island. “Oh my God, the sea is full of oil, oh my God, Maroo Island,” Jalali narrates in the footage. “The sea is full of oil, the beautiful Maroo Island is ruined now.”
Shidvar Island, only some 870 hectares large, is listed as a Ramsar site, making it a wetland of international importance. It had been known as one of the most important breeding grounds for terns, a seabird, in Iran. Iran has considered the island as a wildlife refuge since 1972. Iranian officials have not acknowledged any environmental damage caused by the attack at the Lavan oil refinery.
