At least 34 tankers linked to Iran slipped past the US naval blockade of Iranian ports since it took effect April 13, cargo tracking firm Vortexa found — directly contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim that the barricade has been a “tremendous success.”
The Financial Times first reported the Vortexa data on April 22. Since publication, Iran attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on April 23, seizing two of them, while Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely overnight — reversing his earlier vow not to do so.
Vortexa’s data shows 19 vessels moving outbound through the Gulf while 15 transited inward from the Arabian Sea toward Iranian ports. Six of the outbound tankers carried Iranian crude, with combined cargoes totaling approximately 10.7 million barrels — priced at an estimated $10 below Brent crude, the typical discount applied to sanctioned Iranian oil — representing roughly $910 million in revenue for Tehran.
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Vortexa detected the movements through satellite imagery. Ships making the crossing routinely switch off their transponders — the locator beacons vessels are required to broadcast — to avoid detection.
Among the ships that broke through was the Dorena, a US-sanctioned Iranian supertanker spotted near India’s southern coastline within a day of leaving Iranian waters on April 17. The Hero II and Hedy, two Iran-flagged very large crude carriers capable of carrying up to four million barrels combined, cleared the blockade line on April 20.
Trump declared the blockade a “tremendous success” on April 21, saying US forces had turned back at least 27 ships. US Central Command has since raised that figure to 31. The White House claims the blockade costs Iran $500 million daily.
CENTCOM counts ships intercepted or redirected, while Vortexa’s satellite data captures vessels that bypassed enforcement entirely — the majority by going dark.
US enforcement has expanded beyond the Persian Gulf. American naval forces seized a tanker suspected of oil smuggling in the Indian Ocean and escorted at least one other vessel off India’s western coast, The Washington Post reported April 21.
Related: No Deadline, No Vance, No Iranian Delegation: Where the US-Iran Talks Stand Today
Iran has condemned the blockade as illegal. Iranian authorities seized the US-sanctioned cargo vessel Touska on April 19. The IRGC’s attack on three ships in the strait on April 23, seizing two of them, marks a further escalation.
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