Iranian Tankers Break US Blockade: A Bold Move in the Gulf of Oman

Three Iranian tankers loaded with crude oil have successfully crossed the US blockade line in the Gulf of Oman, according to ship-tracking data. This bold maneuver has seen two of the vessels broadcasting their locations as they sailed through, while a third tanker activated its location tracker just after crossing the line. Now, despite President Donald Trump’s announcement on Sunday regarding the “immediate removal” of the blockade of Iranian ports, US naval forces later reaffirmed that the blockade would remain until a deal with Iran is finalized. This deal is expected to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.

“This is a sign that Iran is confident the blockade is over, even if the US has insisted it will be in place until Friday,” said Michelle Wiese Bockman, a senior analyst at Windward Maritime Intelligence, in a statement to BBC Verify. The tankers in question, named Diona, Hero II, and Sonia I, are all flagged under Iran and owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), which has faced sanctions imposed by the US Treasury, alongside the ships themselves.

Iran has long been under the weight of US sanctions, primarily due to concerns that the country might be developing nuclear weapons, its support for groups classified as terrorist organizations by Washington, and its alleged human rights abuses. Recent data from MarineTraffic indicates that Hero II and Sonia I departed from Iran’s Chabahar port on Tuesday, where several other Iranian tankers are currently anchored, before making their way past the US blockade line into the Arabian Sea in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Diona began broadcasting its location just after crossing the US blockade line, which stretches from the eastern tip of Oman to the Iranian coast. Maritime intelligence firm Windward noted that this is the first time any of these Iranian tankers have broadcast their positions since March. If they reach their destinations, these tankers will mark Iran’s first oil exports in two months, as reported by TankerTrackers.com. Collectively, the three vessels are transporting a staggering 3.8 million barrels of crude oil, although they are currently not disclosing their intended destinations.

The impact of the US blockade has been significant, with Iran’s crude oil exports plummeting to the lowest levels in six years, dropping to just 260,000 barrels per day in May—less than a fifth of the 2025 average of 1.67 million barrels per day, as per data from maritime intelligence firm Kpler. The US had previously stated that enforcement of the blockade could extend beyond the Gulf region, with reports of American forces intercepting Iran-linked vessels in the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away from the Gulf.

In a related development, another crude oil tanker owned by NITC, named Stream, stopped broadcasting its location just before reaching the US blockade line and seems to be heading back towards Iran. This unladen tanker has been circling off the coast of the Pakistani port of Karachi since May 8, according to ship tracking data. Since the announcement of the US deal with Iran, “Iranian-linked tankers and cargo ships have become noticeably more active globally,” the monitoring group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) reported.

Additionally, two other crude oil tankers owned by NITC, named Dan and Sinopa, resumed broadcasting their positions in the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia on Tuesday. Interestingly, these tankers had not been visible on publicly accessible ship tracking platforms since early April, and they now appear to be making their way back to Iran. “Iran is wasting no time getting its tankers back into circulation,” commented Bockman.

Will this bold move by Iran change the dynamics of the oil trade in the region? Only time will tell…

Kaynak: Orijinal Haber