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(SeaPRwire) –   Satellite imagery has shown a large suspected oil slick near Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export terminal, which experts suggest may indicate that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is under increasing strain due to heightened U.S. pressure.

The slick, captured in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, spanned approximately 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts quoted by Reuters.

This development appears to signal that President Trump’s maritime pressure strategy is meeting one of its main goals: overwhelming Iran’s export capabilities so much that Tehran can no longer efficiently move or store crude oil to maintain normal production levels.

The suspected spill close to Iran’s principal oil hub is prompting concerns that escalating U.S. sanctions are exceeding Tehran’s capacity to store or export crude, potentially forcing hazardous operational changes with significant environmental repercussions in the Gulf region.

“At this point, I see two plausible explanations, and they might both be true,” Miad Maleki, an expert on Iran sanctions and energy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Digital.

“One possibility is operational: Iran did not reduce extraction quickly enough compared to its actual onshore capability and overestimated how many empty tankers could evade the blockade,” he explained.

“As a result, they have effectively exceeded their export system’s capacity, with more oil reaching or accumulating at terminals than they can load, leading them to release some of the excess into the sea.”

Maleki also noted another potential cause: mechanical failure linked to Iran’s reliance on aging tankers used as floating storage units or vessels involved in sanctions evasion.

“They have deployed older, less reliable ships as floating storage or as carriers circumventing sanctions, and some of these retired or poorly maintained vessels are now leaking,” he said.

In either case, the underlying issue remains the same—there is a growing mismatch between storage and evacuation capabilities and upstream output, resulting in environmental damage across the Gulf.

This incident occurs amid the Trump administration’s ongoing “Economic Fury” campaign against Iran, which combines strict sanctions enforcement with an expanding U.S. naval presence around the Strait of Hormuz aimed at curbing Iran’s oil exports.

Prior to the conflict, Iran exported about 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, mostly to China. Analysts report that the blockade and threats of sanctions against shipping companies and financial institutions have made it increasingly difficult for Tehran to transport crude from Kharg Island.

Reuters reported that the slick appeared as a “grey and white” plume located west of the 8-kilometer-long island.

Leon Moreland, a researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told Reuters that the slick visually resembles oil, while Louis Goddard, co-founder of consultancy Data Desk, described it as possibly the largest spill since the start of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran around 70 days ago.

Kharg Island manages roughly 90% of Iran’s oil exports and has become a key strategic point in the Trump administration’s efforts to cut off the regime’s primary revenue stream during the current conflict.

Energy analysts warn that Iran now faces a critical challenge. If the country cannot export its oil or secure additional storage, it may be forced to either shut down wells—risking long-term harm to oil fields—or dispose of surplus crude in ways that could lead to widespread environmental consequences throughout the Gulf.

“Iran has already reduced extraction. In a full-scale blockade scenario, the real limitation isn’t production at the wellhead, but rather the inability to load tankers at export terminals,” Maleki stated.

“Once onshore storage approaches capacity, output must be reduced to align with available headroom or wells will be temporarily shut down,” he added. “For Iran, this threshold is roughly 13 days.”

The environmental impact is also sparking alarm throughout the Gulf.

Windward, a maritime risk intelligence firm, estimated that the slick was moving southeast at approximately 2 kilometers per hour and cautioned that it could enter Qatar’s exclusive economic zone within days and potentially drift toward the United Arab Emirates within two weeks.

The region’s desalination infrastructure, vital for millions of residents, remains especially vulnerable to major oil contamination events.

This spill is also occurring during a period of elevated military tensions in the Gulf. The conflict has trapped hundreds of vessels in the area and caused one of the most significant disruptions to global crude and liquefied natural gas supplies in recent years.

Iranian officials have not issued any public statements regarding the suspected spill or its possible causes.

Digital contacted the Iranian mission to the United Nations for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.