Attack on Iranian refinery spills oil onto Shidvar Island in Persian Gulf, video and satellite show

A mysterious attack on an Iranian oil refinery during the Iran war caused an oil spill that affected Shidvar Island, a protected breeding ground for wildlife in the Persian Gulf, according to video and satellite photos.

The Associated Press report described Shidvar Island—also known locally as Maroo Island—as an uninhabited island where oily waves washed ashore after the strike on Lavan, an island just off mainland Iran near Shidvar.

Al Jazeera

Mobile phone footage shot April 9 by an Iranian named Ehsan Jalali showed thick black smoke rising after the strike on the oil refinery on Lavan, and Jalali narrated that "Look what they did to this island."

The report said photographs taken on April 10 from an Airbus DS Pléiades Neo showed the fire still burning at the refinery two days after the attack, with an oil slick staining surrounding Persian Gulf waters and wrapping around Shidvar Island.

The Associated Press account said Jalali’s footage showed a lifeless bird and crab covered in oil and a man holding up a dead swordfish, while Jalali said, "Poor birds, look how they are stuck in oil."

The report also said Iranian officials have not acknowledged any environmental damage caused by the attack at the Lavan oil refinery, which came hours after the United States and Israel agreed to a ceasefire in the war with Iran.

Boston Herald

It further stated that Iranian media outlets alleged the United Arab Emirates carried out the attack, something not acknowledged by Emirati officials, and that the UAE faced more missile and drone fire than any other country in the war.

In a separate Al Jazeera video description, the broadcaster said the impact of an oil spill caused by an attack on Iran’s Lavan refinery was revealed in a newly released video from Shidvar Island showing oil washed up on the shore of the nature reserve, along with suffocating and trapped wildlife.

Beyond the Lavan refinery spill, Misbar monitoring cited in a separate report said satellite images revealed continued oil leakage from Iran’s drone aircraft carrier Shahid Bagheri in a Ramsar Convention area.

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That Misbar account said a Sentinel image taken on the morning of March 28, 2026 showed an oil leak from the carrier at a distance of no less than 5 kilometers from the coast at coordinates 27.034194, 56.075750.

It also said that because of cloud cover, no image of the carrier after the strike appeared until March 16, captured by Landsat at coordinates 27.033050, 56.076110, and that the oil spill covered an area of no less than 22 square kilometers.

The same report described the Ramsar-listed site as including the Hara Reserve and lands of the Khuran Strait between Iran’s shores and Qeshm Island, and it said the United States joined the convention in 1986 alongside dozens of other countries that commit to preserving and protecting the areas covered by it.