U.S. Expands Search for Contraband as Iranian Blockade Continues
The U.S. reserves the right to search any Iranian vessels, sanctioned vessels and ships suspected of carrying a list of contraband items, according to a Thursday notice to mariners from U.S. Central Command.
Contraband items include weapons, ammunition, explosives and military equipment, the notice reads. Conditional contraband –meaning contraband for aiding Iran’s military operations – includes crude oil, nuclear material, metals and machinery. A full list is included in the blockade update.
To that end, the U.S. will pursue ships outside of the U.S. Central Command area of response, Chief of the Joint Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters Thursday.
The update to the U.S. blockade of Iran’s coast comes as the U.S. waiver for Russian oil sanctions expired Thursday. The waiver for Iranian oil is set to end on Sunday.
Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz dropped Monday following the announcement of a U.S. blockade, Richard Meade, editor of London-based Lloyd’s List, said during a Thursday webinar. Last week, the Strait of Hormuz saw the most activity since the U.S.-Israel offensive began in Iran, although overall traffic through the Middle East waterway is far below normal.
“While sanctioned and shadow fleet ships have scrambled to test the full extent of the U.S. resolve to enforce the U.S. president’s current plan, mainstream shipping has once again been left watching the news and tuning into webinars for signs to an end to this crisis,” Meade said.
While the blockade did cause some Iranian-linked ships to pause or reverse course, Lloyd’s List Intelligence has also seen Iranian-linked ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz and visit Iranian ports, Lloyd’s List Intelligence senior analyst Bridget Diakun said during the webinar.
Lloyd’s List reported Thursday that eight ships crossed the blockade and are sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, bound for Iranian ports.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence data suggests there are 109 ships that are part of the shadow fleet – vessels that use deceptive measures to avoid detection – saying they are in the Gulf of Oman and another 77 off the coast of Malaysia. The ships are in areas that are known locations for transhipment of Iranian crude oil.
Caine told reporters that 13 ships have turned around to avoid the U.S. blockade. Lloyd’s List tracked seven ships that turned around after the Sunday announcement of a blockade with four ultimately continuing on their journey.
According to shipping analysts, there have been more westbound vessels this week than eastbound – a shift since the U.S. blockade went into effect Monday.
The Joint Maritime Information Center, a product of the Combined Maritime Force, reported two cargo vessels and four tankers transited the strait on Wednesday. Of the transits, four were westbound compared to two eastbound. JMIC does not track shadow fleet or dark transits.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence has tracked 27 transits – the majority of which were westbound – since Monday when the blockage began. The increase in westbound transits is on track to outnumber eastbound transits for the first week since the conflict began.
Of the 27 transits, 15 used Iranian routes, according to Lloyd’s List.
With the blockade in place, there are some ships that are attempting to spoof their location with their automatic identification system, Lloyd’s List Intelligence maritime risk analyst Tomer Raanan said during the webinar. Some ships are showing their port destination as “PG port” or Persian Gulf port instead of a more specific location.
AIS spoofing is not likely to affect CENTCOM’s ability to enforce the blockade, Raanan said.
About 20 percent of the world’s oil flows through strait. Brent crude oil price is at $114.93 a barrel, as of Thursday, according to the Energy Information Administration, up from $71.32 on Feb. 27.
