Three Iranian oil tankers, carrying a total of five million barrels of crude oil, became the first loaded vessels to leave the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz after the imposition of the American blockade. This was reported by the analytical company Kpler to AFP on Friday, writes UNN.
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The vessels Deep Sea, Sonia I, and Diona, all under US sanctions, passed through the strategic strait on Wednesday after departing from Iran's Kharg Island, where they were loaded on April 2, 8, and 9, respectively, according to data from the maritime analytics company.
Washington imposed a blockade on Iranian ports starting Monday, aiming to prevent Tehran from exporting oil.
Since the departure of the vessel Starla on April 10, no Iranian tanker carrying crude oil has left the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
Marine tracking sites do not provide fresh AIS transponder data for the three tankers, as their devices are turned off.
According to the Marine Traffic website, all three last transmitted a signal about a month ago in the area of the Strait of Malacca.
However, Kpler also used satellite imagery to track the vessels and confirmed to AFP that all of them passed through the strait on Wednesday.
Their final destinations are unknown, but these vessels have systematically transported their cargo to the Singapore area for several years.
In this area, ship-to-ship transfers are recorded, where oil is transferred to other tankers heading to China, according to Global Fishing Watch and Kpler data.
Each of the three vessels had already transferred a cargo of Iranian crude oil near Singapore in March.
The previous cargo of Deep Sea was delivered by the tanker Utopia Quest to the port of Yantai in northern China on March 30.
The cargo of Diona was delivered by the vessel Indigo Ray on April 10 to an oil terminal in the port of Dongjiakou, also in northern China.
And the cargo of Sonia I was transferred to the vessel Adeline G, whose destination remained unknown.
Since March 1, cargoes from at least 37 Iranian-linked oil tankers have been transshipped at sea in the Singapore area, totaling at least 62.3 million barrels of crude oil, according to Kpler data analyzed by AFP.
Two sanctioned Iranian container ships also left the Persian Gulf through the strait earlier this week but turned back near the border with Pakistan and were last recorded near the Iranian port of Chabahar.
Two sanctioned cargo ships also passed through the strait in the opposite direction and were last recorded near the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.