US Navy turns back 3 more vessels on second day of Iran blockade
Cargo vessels altering their identification signals have created a cat-and-mouse game for the US Navy east of the Strait of Hormuz, while most of Iran’s “ghost fleet” appears to remain in a holding pattern.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s top command for the Middle East said Wednesday its naval blockade of Iran remained intact, disputing reports that any vessels headed to or from Iranian ports had made it past the Strait of Hormuz since the US-enforced blockade went into effect on Monday.
An additional three vessels returned to port in Iran Tuesday into Wednesday after being ordered by the US military to do so, US Central Command said. CENTCOM previously announced on Tuesday that six other vessels had complied with similar orders during the first 24 hours of the blockade.
“During the first 48 hours of the US blockade on ships entering and exiting Iranian ports, no vessels have made it past US forces,” CENTCOM said in a statement on Wednesday.
More than a dozen vessels made it through Strait of Hormuz Monday into Tuesday headed to and emerging from ports in other countries, while several vessels linked to Iranian ports appeared to turn back.
Yet open-source tracking agency Kpler showed at least two crude oil tankers, the Alicia and the RHN, appeared to have entered Iranian territorial waters via the strait from the Gulf of Oman Tuesday into Wednesday, despite the US military’s claim. Both tankers were placed under US sanctions in 2024 for transporting Iranian crude oil abroad.
"Combined, these two iron maidens have transported 60 million barrels of Iranian crude since 2023," Samir Madani, founder of the open-source maritime monitoring site TankerTrackers, told Al-Monitor. Both the Alicia and the RHN were listed as unladen with cargo.
A handful of other ships linked to Iran’s oil trade appeared on open-source monitoring sites to have gotten through the blockade on the first day of its enforcement. The Christianna was listed as having departed the Iranian port of Bandar Imam Khomeini before transiting the strait on Monday, and Elpis, a crude tanker under US sanctions, exited the strait into the Gulf of Oman after leaving Bushehr, according to Kpler data. The logistical data could not be independently confirmed by Al-Monitor.
Iranian state media claimed on Wednesday morning the Chinese-owned Alicia had transited Hormuz and entered Iranian waters without changing its Automatic Identification System designation, which ships use to broadcast their identity and location. Several ships in the surrounding waterways have changed their AIS designation in an apparent attempt to mask their affiliation with Iran’s fleet of oil exports.
Still, the majority of Iran's so-called ghost fleet ships that were in the Gulf at the time the blockade went into effect at 2 p.m. GMT on Monday appear to remain stationed offshore and have not attempted to leave. It remains unclear why or how the Alicia and the RHN got through.
"US forces have completely halted economic trade going in and out of Iran by sea," CENTCOM commander Navy Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement late Tuesday.
At least a dozen US warships positioned southeast of the Strait of Hormuz in and around the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea are involved in enforcing the blockade, a US official said.
