Four Iranian oil tankers filled with crude defied the US blockade and crossed the Strait of Hormuz to China
Four Iranian-flagged oil tankers loaded with crude oil transited the Strait of Hormuz, despite a US blockade of Tehran's ports under which US forces blocked or seized other Islamic republic vessels until recently.
Strait of Hormuz PHOTO: X
Also, this “closing eyes” from the United States comes amid reports that the U.S. and Iran are about to strike a deal, after negotiations in recent weeks that have been threatened on several occasions by renewed firefights.
The transit through Hormuz of the four Iranian oil tankers is “an unprecedented event since mid-April”, notes AFP, citing data published on Thursday by the maritime traffic monitoring company Kpler, according to Agerpres.
Iranian oil tankers were monitored by satellite
Kpler detected the ships Hilda I, Amber, Silvia I and Happiness I, which crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and had a total of about 7 million barrels of oil on board.
All these vessels were loaded in mid-April at Kharg Island, Iran's main oil terminal, through which the country delivers about 90% of its oil exports.
Oil tankers crossing the strait had their tracking transponders turned off, but the Kpler company used satellite images to monitor commercial ships.
AFP recalls that Iranian tankers usually take crude oil to an offshore area near the states of Malaysia and Singapore.
There, crude oil is transferred offshore to other vessels in ship-to-ship operations.
The new vessels loaded with Iranian oil then go to China.
Through this mechanism, the authorities in Tehran circumvent the sanctions imposed on the regime by the US and the EU.
The first “successful breach” of the US blockade, since April 15
Three tankers loaded with Iranian oil had already defied the US blockade on April 15, two days after it was imposed.
However, no other tankers have attempted to bypass the blockade since then, while the US military regularly announces actions against vessels attempting to reach or depart from Iranian ports.
Most recently, the United States announced on Tuesday that it had taken one such tanker out of service by firing on its engine room to prevent it from reaching Kharg Island.
It was the sixth ship damaged by the US military after the blockade was imposed.
Trump says a deal with Iran could be reached by the end of the week
US President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran could be reached by the end of this week.
The statement comes at a tense moment after Iranian attacks on targets in Kuwait and Bahrain left at least one dead and more than 60 injured.
“Negotiations are going very well, very well indeed. An agreement may be reached this weekend,” the US president estimated, adding, however, that there is also a possibility that the deal may not be concluded.
The statements come after the US military and Iran's Revolutionary Guards were engaged in the heaviest exchange of fire since the ceasefire was announced on Wednesday.
Kuwait International Airport was hit by an Iranian drone and one person died.
On the other hand, the supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, accused, in a written message released to the public, that the United States and Israel are trying to destabilize the country.
Khamenei's message, in which it is said that the two opposing states have suffered a huge defeat in the war, would actually have the objective of preparing the Iranian population for the announcement of an agreement, the international press reported.
