It is said the first casualty of war is the truth; the final victim is often the environment. At the end of the First Gulf War, Saddam Hussein caused the second-largest oil spill in history by dumping about four million barrels of Kuwaiti crude into the sea. Now holed ships and exploded tanks again threaten the Gulf’s people and ecosystems.
The way Iran has fought this war magnifies the danger in the narrow waters of the Gulf. Two Adnoc tankers were reported on Thursday to have been hit, and another on Saturday, with a total of about 20 of the company’s vessels attacked during the war so far. The UAE Foreign Ministry condemned the latest strike.
Since beginning their campaign against shipping in the southern Red Sea area in late 2023, the Houthi rebels in Yemen have damaged and sunk several ships. In March 2024, they sent a fertiliser carrier, the MV Rubymar, to the bottom. It leaked fuel oil, and its cargo could have caused toxic algal blooms and damaged coral.
Perhaps the worst attack came on Tuesday as six people were killed when missiles hit a Tanzania-flagged ferry and later struck rescue workers. As the Sanaa-based group aims for Saudi assets, tankers heading through the Bab Al Mandeb strait pose another environmental risk, including for the fishing industry along the Tihama coast.
On Friday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry called for compensation after an oil slick washed up on the shores of Qeshm Island, on the northern side of the Strait of Hormuz. But it appears Iran itself caused this spill after it attacked the Minoan Pioneer, a bulk carrier, on August 3, piercing its fuel tanks.
Another spill was detected near Sirri Island, in Iranian waters near the maritime boundary with Dubai. Sirri is a petroleum industry hub, and the cause of the leakage was unclear.
Perhaps most serious, a “dark fleet” tanker, Caroline Bezengi, carrying about 800,000 barrels of Russian crude, suffered a mysterious explosion off the south-western coast of Oman in June, ran aground near Al Qibbliyah Island, and was abandoned. It is not clear whether the ship was insured. Registered in Cameroon, the ship's documents seem to have expired in May. Safety experts have repeatedly warned of the dangers of older tankers with obscure ownership carrying sanctioned oil.
The Caroline Bezengi is now leaking and in danger of breaking up, and the khareef monsoon has spread oil over 400 square kilometres, reaching Ras Madrakah, more than 200km away. This remote area is a haven for turtles, corals, the Socotra cormorant, and the Arabian Sea humpback whale.
Iran’s own environment has also been a victim. Right at the start of the war in the Strait of Hormuz, Israeli planes struck oil storage tanks in Tehran, releasing thick black petroliferous smoke clouds over the city of 10 million. Israel’s military has more recently been accused of deliberately starting forest fires in southern Lebanon. A further worry comes from strikes against the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi and the Bushehr reactor on Iran’s Gulf coast.
Gulf ecosystem
The Gulf ecosystem is already stressed: fast-rising temperatures because of climate change raise salinity and bleach corals, and will eventually kill off reefs on which fish and other species depend. Inflows from the only two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, have been cut by drought and by upstream dams and irrigation. Effluent from desalination plants creates local areas of hot, hypersaline water. Urban development and boating destroy reefs and other habitats.
The Gulf countries are more dependent on desalination than anywhere else. Other than Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states rely on desalinated water for 86 per cent to 100 per cent of residential needs. Iran has accused the US of attacking desalination plants on Qeshm Island in March, though Iran mostly uses ground and rainwater. Iran itself bombed electricity and water plants in Kuwait last month.
The 1991 Iraqi spill of Kuwaiti oil may have been a deliberate attempt to sabotage Saudi desalination plants. A major leak today could be much more devastating, given the greatly increased urbanisation and water consumption around the Gulf.
This year’s war has been fought with little regard for the environment. Only a few countries – and none in this region – recognise ecocide, the deliberate damage to ecosystems, as a crime. The regime in Tehran has been a poor steward of its own country’s nature and water even in peacetime, despite the valiant efforts of individual green campaigners.
But maybe there is some hope. The Gulf environment is, at least, something all the littoral countries ought to value.
Amid Yemen’s civil war, a 47-year-old offshore tanker used as floating oil storage, the FSO Safer, was at risk of breaking up or exploding. That would have been catastrophic for the southern Red Sea. But after crowdfunding and difficult negotiations between the UN and the Houthis, in 2023 a salvage company was eventually allowed to remove 1.14 million barrels of oil from the decaying ship. The empty hull is still there, awaiting recycling, but at least the worst crisis has been averted.
Such approaches might be promising for the war in the Strait of Hormuz. Collaboration on specific problems is a way to test constructive engagement. Dealing with oil spills from stricken tankers would be helpful, even if Tehran plays both arsonist and firefighter. Such operations could be open to contributions from nations outside the region, rather than the warring parties, since Europe, China, Japan and others have been conspicuously absent.
Much of the recent negotiation has revolved around Iran’s demands for “control” of the strait and possible fees for its use, claims understandably rejected by most of its neighbours.
Some other maritime passages, such as the Bosphorus and the Strait of Malacca, do levy compulsory or voluntary charges for various services, including environmental protection. That should not be a disguise for a toll intended to fill Tehran’s war chest. But ecological engagement could build broader co-operation, ease Gulf traffic, and spare the environment worse devastation.
