A third Iran-linked tanker was entering the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday on the first full day of the U.S. blockade on vessels calling at Iranian ports, shipping data showed.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after weekend peace talks in Islamabad between the U.S. and Iran failed to reach a deal.
As the three vessels transiting the strait were not heading to Iranian ports, they are not covered by the blockade.
Panama-flagged Peace Gulf, a medium-range tanker, is heading to Hamriyah port in the United Arab Emirates, LSEG data showed.
The vessel typically moves Iranian naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, to other non-Iranian Middle Eastern ports for export to Asia, Kpler data showed.
Prior to this, two U.S.-sanctioned tankers passed through the narrow waterway.
Handy tanker Murlikishan is heading to Iraq to load fuel oil on April 16, Kpler data showed. The vessel, formerly known as MKA, has transported Russian and Iranian oil.
Another sanctioned tanker, Rich Starry, would be the first to make it through the strait and to exit the Gulf since the blockade began, data from LSEG and Kpler showed.
The tanker and its owner Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co Ltd were sanctioned by the United States for dealing with Iran. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.
Rich Starry is a medium-range tanker that is carrying about 250,000 barrels of methanol, according to the data. It loaded the cargo at its last port of call, the UAE’s Hamriyah, the data showed.
The Chinese-owned tanker has Chinese crew on board, the data showed.
China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports is “dangerous and irresponsible”, warning it would only aggravate tensions. It did not mention whether Chinese ships were passing the strait.
(Reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore and Mariko Katsumura in Tokyo; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Jamie Freed and Sharon Singleton)