SPACEPHOTOS

Strategically located in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian island of Qeshm can be seen in this west-looking view. The largest island in Iran, Qeshm covers an area of 500 square miles (1295 sq km). Clarence Strait separates mainland Iran from Qeshm Island. Qeshm Island is a mostly rocky and barren island with a small human population. On what little cultivated land there is, dates and melons are grown. The linear mountains of the Zagros are visible covering the right quarter of the image. Near the upper right of the image, the shallow and sometimes dry Mehrakan Salt Lake is visible. Just off the coast in the upper center of the image is Forur Island. To Forur Island’s left (south) is the Island of Sirri, once an Iranian oil terminal. To the east of Sirri and in the upper left of the image is the island of Agu Musa and to its right is Tung Island. The rather hilly, barren islands just to the east of Qeshm Island are Hormoz and Larak Islands.