First LNG Tanker Crosses Hormuz Since Iran War, Appears Near India Coast: Report

Tehran: The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the Iran war, according to ship-tracking data as reported by Reuters. The tanker reportedly appeared close to India on Monday. However, there is no official confirmation in this regard so far. The shipping vessel is managed by the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) ADNOC Logistics & Services.The 136,357-cubic-meter tanker, which was last seen on March 30 in the Gulf, has shown up near India’s west coast on April 27, indicating that it had crossed the Strait of Hormuz. The tanker reportedly managed to cross the key waterway despite blockades by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the US Navy.The vessel managed to cross the strait

without signal, claimed the report, citing data from ICIS LNG Edge, Marine Traffic and LSEG. Notably, it has become a common tactic adopted by ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz to stop transmitting their location or signalling their false identity to avoid being targeted by Iranians or the US forces.Notably, the tanker, Mubaraz, reportedly loaded a cargo from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s Das Island facility in the UAE. Currently, the tanker is signalling a terminal in China as its destination, reported The Economics Times. It is expected to reach its destination on May 15.Also Read: Iran Slams US' ‘Return to Piracy’ After Forceful Tanker Seizures in Hormuz “We have not yet heard official confirmation of the position. There are ‌occasional cases ⁠of bad signal data, or of ships spoofing positions or even using another ship’s identity (MMSI) number, but the indicated position does not show immediately obvious signs of this," said Alex Froley, senior LNG analyst at ICIS, a data intelligence firm, told Reuters.

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The IRGC has imposed a virtual blockade in the strait since the start of the Iran war, following the US-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran on February 28, killing several of its top officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Meanwhile, after the first round of peace talks between Iran and the US failed, Washington also imposed a naval blockade in the key waterway on ships leaving or entering Iranian ports.