According to TankerTrackers, a very large crude carrier with a five-year history of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela evaded the U.S. naval blockade by switching off its Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder. The vessel, capable of carrying about two million barrels, may provide additional storage capacity for Iran.
Monitoring group TankerTrackers reports that another Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) has breached the U.S. naval blockade on Iran by deactivating its AIS transponder — a common technique used by vessels seeking to obscure their location and movements. The ship has a documented five-year record of evading U.S. Treasury OFAC sanctions targeting Iranian and Venezuelan oil exports.
This is the latest in a series of similar incidents as the U.S. Navy maintains a blockade aimed at halting Iranian oil smuggling, a cornerstone of the Trump administration's maximum-pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic. The Zioneer has reported on multiple U.S. interdictions of sanction-busting tankers in recent days, including the disabling of vessels such as the M/T Settebello and M/T Jalveer in the Gulf of Oman. U.S. Central Command has disabled at least eight tankers since the blockade began in mid-April, according to prior CENTCOM statements.
The reported evasion underscores the ongoing cat-and-mouse dynamic between U.S. naval forces and Iranian-linked shipping, with Iran increasingly reliant on clandestine methods to move crude oil and generate revenue. Whether the U.S. Navy will intercept or disable this specific tanker following TankerTrackers' public identification remains unconfirmed.
Source and signal
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