Most ships that have transited the Strait of Hormuz in recent days have taken a route designated by Iranian authorities, and about half of them loaded at Iranian ports, according to the latest shipping data.
That’s in defiance of a US blockade designed to prevent ships from using Iranian ports. US interceptions of Iranian shipping have occurred beyond the strait. It remains unclear whether any of the ships leaving Iran have been intercepted.
Seventeen ships were identified as crossing through the strait between Friday and Sunday, according to marine intelligence firm Kpler – among them four large loaded tankers. Two of those tankers had left Iranian ports and two had departed from the United Arab Emirates.
The largest, according to Kpler, was the Greek-owned Jiaolong, which left the UAE Friday and arrived Monday at the Indian port of Sikka.
Traffic through Hormuz over the past two months has run at about 5% of the pre-war daily average, causing shortages of refined products, especially in Asia.
Iran has said it will maintain control over the Strait, while the US announced a blockade of shipping to and from Iranian ports on April 13.
Since then, the US military has boarded at least two ships and says it has intercepted 38.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that Iran would soon have to stop producing crude for lack of storage and export routes.
Iranian state media has denied the country lacks storage for its oil.
As the paralysis of the Strait continues, analyst Goldman Sachs raised its price forecast for the fourth quarter of this year to $90 a barrel for Brent crude.