Almost all vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz over the previous three days have used the route designated by Iran, with none recorded utilizing the southern route close to Oman’s coast promoted by the US, in keeping with delivery intelligence group Marisks.
Seventy-eight vessels have been noticed transiting the Strait of Hormuz since Saturday, Marisks mentioned. Of these, 20 had been Iranian-flagged.
All 58 non-Iranian ships transiting used the Iranian-designated route, whereas no ships had been recorded utilizing the southern route, which has been promoted by the United States navy as an alternative choice to different sealanes.
The newest AIS knowledge, which exhibits the place of ships, point out that “all detected non-Iranian merchant traffic continued to favour the Iranian-controlled northern route, despite the political and sanctions implications,” Marisks mentioned.
“The only movements near the southern side are local UAE craft and offshore support vessels rather than international merchant transits.”
Another maritime intelligence group, Windward, mentioned Monday it had recorded simply seven transits by Hormuz on Sunday, all of them through the northern route.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has continuously warned it’s going to goal ships looking for to transit the strait with out Iranian consent.
Iran has redirected vessels trying to make use of what it described as an “illegal and unsafe route” by the southern Strait of Hormuz, state broadcaster IRIB reported Monday, citing an unidentified “informed source.”
They “attempted to pass through an illegal and unsafe route south of the Strait of Hormuz,” IRIB mentioned.
Amid the US blockade on Iranian ports, there have been 24 tankers ready at Iran’s important loading port at Kharg Island on Sunday — up from 21 the day past, in keeping with Windward.