Iran’s state media reported on Wednesday that a bulk carrier carrying food supplies and an Iranian crude oil tanker had entered Iranian waters after passing through the Strait of Hormuz, shortly after a senior U.S. military commander declared that a blockade of Iranian ports was now “fully implemented.”
Iran’s Fars News Agency said a supertanker capable of transporting 2 million barrels of oil had sailed through international waters and the Strait of Hormuz with its tracking system switched on, “without any concealment.”
Data from the ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com show a number of vessels, including the crude oil tanker Alicia, making the journey through the strait overnight. The Chinese-owned Alicia has previously called at Iranian ports and was sanctioned under a previous name for carrying Iranian crude oil, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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The Alicia was heading toward the Persian Gulf and reached the coast of Oman on Saturday, the day before the blockade was announced. It appeared to alter its course in the Gulf of Oman when the blockade began, but then continued through the Strait of Hormuz overnight Tuesday, along with at least two other oil tankers.
Two Iran-flagged container ships, both subject to U.S. sanctions, also appeared to leave the Persian Gulf Tuesday and were continuing to sail close to Iran’s south coast Wednesday.
The U.S. blockade, which came into effect on Monday, is being “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” CENTCOM said Sunday.
U.S. “forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” the military said.
It was not clear from the MarineTraffic data whether the Alicia or any of the sanctioned vessels had docked at Iranian ports since the U.S. blockade came into effect. At least two vessels have turned off their transponders in recent days near Iran’s coastal waters, making them effectively invisible to open-source tracking services like MarineTraffic.
