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The heat spot being given off by the VLCC Sevda 11.5nm south-east of the Jask headland (circled in red), with the Jask naval base to the north circled in green (NASA FIRMS/CJRC)
Published May 9, 2026 6:12 PM
In imagery taken by the Sentinel-2 satellite on May 9, the sanctioned Iranian-flagged dark fleet tanker Sevda(IMO 9172040) appears to be damaged and on fire, but still afloat, 11.5 nm south-east of the Bandar-e Jask headland. This position is 4.5nm due south of the regular Iranian Navy (Nedsa) base at Jask, which was opened in January 2025 and is home to the headquarters of the Nedsa's 2nd Naval Region.
From imagery taken on May 9, smoke is coming from the rear of the ship, and accepting the limitations of the low resolution imagery available, the ship does not appear to be sinking. But the heat of the fire is sufficiently intense to show up as a heat spot in NASA FIRMS infrared imaging also captured today.
The four tankers affected, with the Jask naval base to the north circled in green (Sentinel-2/CJRC)
To the north-west of the burning Sevda, some 1.6nm distant, is a second, larger vessel, 312 meters long and probably a VLCC tanker, which also appears to be in trouble. From the low-resolution imagery available, the tanker is giving off a small amount of smoke, or is suffering from a leak at the stern. In the same area of the Jask bight, there are two other vessels (likely VLCCs) standing off, with one of the two giving off a small smoke plume and a more pronounced oil leak and the other not apparently in distress. There are no visible rescue craft assisting any of the tankers.
For the last few years, the Sevda appears to have been plying its trade with its AIS system switched off. But when it has been visible, it has been making trips to Zhoushan in China, close by to Shanghai. The 1999-built Sevda was sanctioned by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2012.
These reports accord with news released by CENTCOM that on May 6 and May 8, US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets attacked the Sevda and two other Iranian-flagged and OFAC sanctioned VLCCs, the tankers Hasna(IMO 9212917) and Sea Star III(IMO 9569205) with 20mm cannon fire and precision-guided munitions, with the intention of disabling propulsion and steering systems without sinking the vessels.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Bandar-e Jask peninsula, the Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) off the Kooh Mobarak crude oil export terminal was imaged successively on three days between May 6-8. On each occasion the SBM was empty of a tanker but was apparently leaking crude oil – suggesting the SBM has a technical fault.
Fuente: Maritime Executive
