POSSIBLE OIL SPILLS NEAR THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ

BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 10 /SRNA/ - Oil spills have been spotted near the Strait of Hormuz following US strikes on tankers suspected of being linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an analysis of satellite imagery has shown.

Images captured yesterday by the European Union’s Copernicus program show brown traces on the surface of the water about 20 kilometres off the coast of Iran, east of the Strait of Hormuz.

Another Copernicus image captured today at the same location shows traces of a similar length.

Several researchers and experts told AFP that the potential oil spills are located in areas near coral reefs protected under the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international importance.

Satellite imagery is not sufficient to establish with certainty the presence of hydrocarbons or their exact origin.

The US military said that on Tuesday, September 8, it destroyed five tankers in the Gulf of Oman in response to a ballistic missile attack by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a US military vessel.