SAEDNEWS: On the fourth day of the naval blockade, only 20 commercial ships managed to pass through the strategic strait, while more than 800 tankers remain halted in the Persian Gulf.
According to the political news service of Saed News Agency, citing Al Jazeera, as the U.S. maritime blockade against Iranian ports enters its fourth day, 20 commercial vessels have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, while more than 800 tankers remain stationary in the Persian Gulf.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that 426 crude oil tankers and 19 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers are currently stuck in the region.
Data from the maritime tracking company Kepler shows instances of transit, indicating that 3 to 4 Iran-linked tankers have successfully crossed the strait.
Against this backdrop, Iran’s so-called “shadow fleet” has emerged as a key element in the sanctions-evasion equation. This fleet, consisting of hundreds of aging tankers, relies on multiple concealment techniques, reflecting rapid adaptation to new conflict-related regulations and efforts to evade U.S. monitoring measures.
According to Al Jazeera, these methods include disabling tracking systems, changing vessel flags and documentation, and conducting ship-to-ship transfers in open waters—sometimes multiple times—to obscure the origin and destination of oil shipments.
