Satellite Photos Show Iran Oil Island on Fire in Persian Gulf
Iran has lost the first oil storage tank in its weekslong war with the United States and Israel, according to new satellite imagery released this week.
A photograph, captured on April 15 by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites, showed smoke rising from the site of a crude oil storage facility on Sirri Island, an Iranian oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.
The damage-first reported on Thursday by the shipping-monitoring group TankerTrackers.com-appeared to cost Iran at least one large tank capable of storing 1 million barrels of crude oil, about one-fifth of the island’s capacity.
Oil exports are central to Iran’s heavily sanctioned economy-over 90 percent goes to Chinese refineries-but U.S. President Donald Trump has deliberately spared Iranian energy sites, he said, possibly as a bargaining chip and with a view to stabilizing oil prices after the war.
American, Israeli and Iranian forces have not exchanged fire since the ceasefire called on April 7, but Iranian state media reported explosions on Sirri and the Lavan Island oil hub, off Iran’s south coast, hours after the pause in fighting.
At the time, the Mehr News Agency did not say who was responsible for the blast, and no follow-up reports were filed. On the same day, suspected drone attacks were reported on energy infrastructure in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
It was unclear whether the fire seen on Sirri was linked to the April 7 explosion, but large plumes of smoke were also seen in ESA imagery of the site taken on April 10.
A separate blaze at the Lavan crude storage facility was seen in an ESA photograph dated April 10 but appeared to have been contained in a picture taken two days later, according to Newsweek‘s review of publicly available imagery.
The state-owned National Iranian Oil Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment during office hours.
Sirri is far smaller than Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil terminal, which handled over 90 percent of its exports last year, commodities experts said.
Iran is continuing to pump oil from the mainland to its offshore terminals, but a U.S. naval blockade now entering its fourth day is expected to halt any exports. It could force Iran to hold on to more of its product, curbing upstream production and cutting oil revenue.
“Ten vessels have now been turned around and ZERO ships have broken through since the start of the U.S. blockade on Monday,” the U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday.
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Iran's Kharg and Sirri islands
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The U.S. blockade was a response to an unsuccessful first round of peace talks in Pakistan between the U.S. and Iranian delegations. Prior to the negotiations, Iran had effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz to non-Iranian traffic and demanded all vessels transit the waterway via a designated corridor through its territorial waters.
On Wednesday, Ali Abdollahi, Iran’s top military commander, said his country viewed the blockade as a ceasefire violation and would “take decisive action” by restricting trade in the Persian and Oman gulfs and in the Red Sea, a new threat that puts at risk a key alternative waterway used by Gulf states-including Saudi Arabia-to export crude oil.
Yemen’s Houthi militant group-an Iranian proxy-could become actively involved in the conflict in such a scenario targeting ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to the London-based shipping analysts Lloyd’s List.
“A change in directive from Tehran that results in disruption to Red Sea tanker flows would close another significant artery for Middle Eastern oil exports,” the shipping news outlet reported.
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Strait of Hormuz traffic
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Wednesday that his government was seeking “a rational and realistic solution through peaceful negotiations,” according to a readout of the call published by China’s Foreign Ministry.
“The sovereignty, security and legitimate rights and interests of Iran as a country bordering the Strait of Hormuz should be respected and upheld,” Wang told Araghchi.
“At the same time, the freedom and security of navigation in the internationally accessible strait should also be guaranteed. Striving to restore normal navigation in the strait is a shared call of the international community,” he continued.
Amena Bakr, a Middle East energy analyst at the commodities intelligence company Kpler, said in a report on Thursday: “Overall, we see the new U.S. naval blockade creating a clear divide. Iranian-linked vessels are stuck or frozen in the Gulf of Oman. Meanwhile, non-Iranian ships are still moving freely.”
“We’re not seeing any improvement in the traffic when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz,” she added. “The vessels passing are still in the single digits and nowhere near prewar levels. So even if the war does end tomorrow, we are not seeing an instant return or recovery of the supply losses that we’re seeing.”
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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 9:45 AM.