Three Sanctioned Iranian Oil Tankers Exit Gulf Amid U.S. Blockade
The vessels, identified as the Deep Sea, Sonia I, and Diona, are currently under U.S. sanctions and crossed the strategic strait on Wednesday, according to an AFP report.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Three Iranian oil tankers carrying five million barrels of crude have exited the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first such departures since a United States blockade on Iranian ports took effect, according to the maritime data tracking firm Kpler.
The vessels, identified as the Deep Sea, Sonia I, and Diona, are currently under U.S. sanctions and crossed the strategic strait on Wednesday.
The tankers departed after loading crude at Iran's Kharg Island between April 2 and April 9, according to data provided to the AFP news agency.
Washington implemented the blockade on Monday in a direct effort to halt Tehran's oil exports. Prior to Wednesday's crossing, no Iranian tanker loaded with crude oil had traversed the Strait of Hormuz since the Starla departed on April 10.
Maritime tracking sites currently lack automatic identification system transponder data for the three ships, which last broadcasted their locations approximately a month ago in the Strait of Malacca.
To confirm the vessels' passage through the strait on Wednesday, Kpler utilized satellite imagery.
While the current destinations of the vessels remain unconfirmed, tracking data indicates a multi-year pattern of transporting cargoes to the Singapore area for ship-to-ship transfers.
In March, all three tankers transferred Iranian crude to other vessels near Singapore.
Cargoes from the Deep Sea and Diona were transferred to the Utopia Quest and Indigo Ray, respectively, which subsequently delivered the oil to the northern Chinese ports of Yantai and Dongjiakou.
Since March 1, cargoes from at least 37 oil tankers associated with Iran have been transferred at sea near Singapore, accounting for at least 62.3 million barrels of crude oil, according to an analysis of Kpler data.
Separately, two sanctioned Iranian container ships exited the Gulf earlier in the week before executing U-turns near the Pakistani border.
Tracking systems last detected those vessels near the Iranian port of Chabahar, while two sanctioned cargo vessels passed through the strait in the opposite direction toward Bandar Abbas.
The departure of the three sanctioned vessels represents the first confirmed movement of Iranian crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz since the initiation of the U.S. blockade.