Since President Trump announced a cease-fire deal with Tehran, at least three Iranian oil tankers carrying around 5 million barrels of oil have crossed the former U.S. blockade line, according to ship tracking services.
According to Kpler and Vortexa, two very large crude carriers, the Hero II and Diona, each holding about 2 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, made their way through the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, now bound for destinations in Asia.
Additionally, a smaller tanker, the Sonia I, has also passed through the blockade and is on its way to Singapore.
All three vessels are operated by the Iranian National Tanker Company, which was previously sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in October 2020 for allegedly funding the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), labeled as a terrorist organization.
Windward Maritime Information Company noted that the Hero II, Diona, and Sonia I are the first Iranian vessels to activate their identification transponders since March. Some ships share their location, but they don’t disclose their final destination.
Interestingly, an empty VLCC associated with Iran, known as the Stream, is approaching the blockade from the opposite direction, alongside a partially loaded supertanker called Harvey. The Stream transmitted its location until it neared the blockade line, where the transponder was turned off.
Charlie Brown from the United Union Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) commented, “The signal goes out, and they are repositioning themselves, hoping the U.S. will lift the blockade. Clearly, there’s a system reboot happening.”
UANI reported that at least five Iranian-flagged cargo ships that departed from Malaysia have returned to Iran.
While the U.S. blockade remains technically in place due to a memorandum of understanding with Iran, which is expected to be signed on Friday, Iranian ships seem confident about navigating through the blockade more rapidly than other international vessels stalled in the Persian Gulf. A very limited number of these ships are willing to challenge the waters, even as President Trump confirms that the Strait of Hormuz is now open to traffic.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence noted that the maritime sector is approaching the situation with a mix of disbelief and caution rather than outright celebration. They communicated this in a memo to their customers.
“The pause in fighting may relieve stranded seafarers and benefit tanker and bulk markets, but the industry views this as a fragile improvement, not a return to normality,” the firm observed, predicting that several VLCCs with large cargoes will seek to capitalize on the “first-mover advantage” in the soon-to-be-reopened Strait of Hormuz.
Windward reported on Wednesday that many VLCCs are sailing from the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean towards fuel loading ports in the UAE, which can only be accessed by passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
