3 Ships Escape Hormuz Chokehold Through New Route Along Oman Coast

Tehran: Three tankers broadcasting Omani ownership appeared to enter the Strait of Hormuz by hugging their home country’s coastline, indicating a different route to a northerly path through Iranian waters. Two oil supertankers and a liquefied natural gas vessel headed east into the strait on Thursday, based on the satellite signals they were broadcasting. All three vessels are managed by Oman Ship Management Company, according to the Equasis marine database. The company couldn’t be reached for comment.

While the Strait of Hormuz has been largely blocked since the start of the conflict, Iran has begun to negotiate transit for a handful of vessels tied to friendly nations, which have followed an agreed northerly route through its own waters. On Thursday, Iran’s state-run IRNA cited Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying that Tehran is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Muscat’s position on the comments was unclear. The effective closure of the crucial waterway has upended global energy markets, sending prices surging and putting growing international pressure on US President Donald Trump.

Iran is also trying to set up a tolling system, seeking payments of as much as $2 million per voyage through the waterway. The three ships transiting are particularly interesting because they are the largest type of oil tankers and would be the first LNG carrier to escape the gulf since the war began. Each of the three ships was broadcasting that they were Omani when transiting. They all stopped sending automated position signals at about 9:30 a.m.

London time, when they were approaching, or just rounding, the tip of Oman’s Mussandam Peninsula that juts northward into the strait. It is unclear if they completed the journeys, but a crossing usually takes several hours.

Tracking ships entering and exiting Hormuz has also been complicated by the intense signal jamming in the area, as well as signal spoofing. The tankers are each hauling about 2 million barrels of crude, while the gas carrier appears to be empty, the tracking data show.

One of the tankers loaded in Saudi Arabia in late February and was signalling its destination as Kyuakpyu in Myanmar, where a pipeline carries crude into western China. The other carrier is carrying crude from Abu Dhabi to an undisclosed destination.

The route followed by the three ships lies to the south of the designated shipping lanes through the waterway, shown in orange in the map, and far from the more northerly path that runs between the Iran’s Larak and Qeshm islands taken by most ships leaving the Persian Gulf in recent days, shown in yellow.

That northerly route has been associated with Iranian demands to approve and charge a fee for ships to transit the strait. But its shallower depth and tighter turns may make it unsuitable for the largest oil tankers.