Data shows Iran bypassing US blockade despite Trump’s claims of its success

Data from a major ship tracking company shows that dozens of oil tankers have managed to bypass the so-called naval blockade of Iran by the United States since it began earlier this month.

Data by Vortexa, cited in a Wednesday report by the Financial Times, showed that at least 34 tankers, including those carrying Iranian crude oil, had bypassed the US blockade since it was imposed on April 13.

The ships included 19 tankers that exited the Persian Gulf to sail to international ports and 15 that entered the waterway from the Arabian Sea to head toward Iranian ports, the data showed.

The report said at least six of the tankers that left the Persian Gulf during the US blockade were carrying Iranian oil cargoes amounting to 10.7 million barrels and worth at least $910 million.

The FT said one of the tankers bypassing the US blockade and exiting the Persian Gulf was the Dorena, an Iranian-flagged supertanker that left Iranian waters on April 17 and had signaled its position off the southern coast of India a day later.

The tanker has been sanctioned by the US and is one of the key elements of the Iranian oil export fleet.

The data by Vortexa showed that two more US-sanctioned tankers had bypassed the blockade of Iranian ports on April 20, while several more sanctioned tankers bearing flags of other countries entered the Persian Gulf in later days.

This comes as Trump has touted his naval blockade of Iran as a “tremendous success”, saying the move has deprived the country of hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and trade revenues.

Iran has condemned the blockade as illegal and a violation of a fragile ceasefire, while vowing to retaliate against two ship seizures carried out by US forces in regional and international waters.

Iranian media reports on Wednesday said the country’s military forces had seized at least three ships in the Strait of Hormuz because they had violated regulations on passage.

Iran has maintained tight control over transit via the Strait since the early days of a US-Israeli aggression on the country in early March.

Iranian authorities have signaled they may ease restrictions in Hormuz if the US lifts its illegal blockade and other sanctions on the country.

The issue has become a major obstacle to diplomatic efforts to facilitate another round of mediated talks between Tehran and Washington after a first round ended in Pakistan without an agreement on April 12.

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