Iran Considering Plan To Cause Oil Spill In Strait Of Hormuz [Report]

Iran is reportedly considering a top-secret plan to deliberately cause a massive oil tanker spill at the entrance to the Persian Gulf as a response to crippling sanctions that have been leveled against the country by several world powers.

The plan is codenamed “Dirty Water,” and was first announced in the German news magazine Der Spiegel, reports The Independent.

The reported plan has been leaked to Western intelligence agencies and is said to have been throught up by the leader of Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari.

The plan would involve wrecking of sabotaging an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, which is the narrow seaway between Iran and Oman, which is used by over one-third of the world’s oil tankers that enter the Persian Gulf.

An oil spill from a large vessel like an oil tanker would cause an environmental disaster in one of the world’s busiest waterways. It would also force the temporary closure of the Persian Gulf to shipping — a move that would prove incredibly costly.

Western intelligence sources have said that the proposal was targeted at punishing hostile governments for placing sanctions on the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believing that Tehran, Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

The Jerusalem Post notes that, in addition to driving up oil prices, the resulting environmental disaster of an oil spill in the Strait of Hormuz would require Western countries to start a large-scale cleanup operation with Iran, which could potentially reduce the sanctions currently leveled against the country.

The decision on whether to implement the plan reportedly lies in the hands of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although considering the plan is now known to Western intelligence, it is not clear on whether the country will actually implement it or not.

Do you think Iran will implement a plan to create an oil spill in the Persian Gulf as a retaliation to the sanctions leveled against them?