Vessels cross Hormuz destined for Iran despite US blockade

Two sanctioned cargo vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, apparently bound for Iranian ports despite Washington’s blockade in the Middle East war, tracking data indicates.

A trickle of ships has passed the crucial trade route over the past two days after the US imposed a counter-blockade following the failure of peace talks to end the nearly seven-week conflict.

The US military says on X that “after 72 hours of enforcement, 14 vessels have turned around to comply with the blockade at the direction of American forces.”

However, unlike previous updates, it does not say that it prevented all crossing attempts by vessels going to or from Iranian ports.

Late Wednesday, the sanctioned container ship Zaynar 2 made its way westward through the strait into the Gulf, according to the tracking platform Marine Traffic. The website specified its destination as Larak Island, close to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and it last transponded close to that location late Wednesday.

The sanctioned cargo vessel Neshat followed a similar route, hugging the Iran coastline as it crossed the strait early Thursday, with Marine Traffic citing its destination as Bandar Abbas. Its latest signal at around 1500 GMT showed it anchored 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the port.

“There’s evidence that ships are perhaps breaking through” the US blockade, Tom Sharpe, a former commander with the UK’s Royal Navy, tells a briefing for the maritime analyst group Windward.