Iranian tankers gather off Sri Lankan coast
Baku, August 26, AZERTAC
More than a dozen Iran-flagged tankers have gathered off the coast of Sri Lanka, as the US blockade all but halts access to Iranian ports six months into the war, according to Financial Times.
Ship tracking data shows that about 13 Iranian tankers are anchored on the edge of Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, alongside several others linked to Iran’s “shadow fleet”. They are prevented from returning to Iran by a US blockade on ships using Iranian ports, first imposed in April and reintroduced in July after the collapse of a month-long ceasefire.
“A flotilla of approximately 20 state-owned Iranian tankers, all empty of cargo, decided to seek shelter in the exclusive economic zone of Sri Lanka,” said Samir Madani, co-founder of the maritime intelligence firm TankerTrackers.com.
The ships’ draught levels indicated that they were empty and therefore more likely to re-enter Iranian waters to pick up cargo, Madani said. That made them “susceptible to attacks” in “a pattern we’ve noticed when examining past air strikes on Iranian tankers by US Central Command”, he added.
The US blockade has proven to be one of the most successful tools in the US arsenal against Iran, preventing the country from importing fuel and earning revenue from oil exports.
Still, it has failed so far to reopen the Strait of Hormuz fully and end the war that began with the US-Israeli bombing campaign in February.
US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the US would pile further pressure on Iran, expanding secondary sanctions to target entities doing business with Iran. Writing in the FT, Bessent described it as “economic D-Day”.
As of August 24, US forces said they had redirected 71 merchant vessels away from Iran, disabled three and boarded another two “to ensure compliance” with its blockade.
Since mid-July, no tankers bound for destinations beyond the Gulf have loaded at Iran’s main oil-exporting facility on Kharg Island, according to commodities platform Kpler.
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