At least seven ships – mainly dry bulk vessels – have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, in line with muted activity in recent days, shipping data showed on Monday, while talks between Iran and the United States have stalled.
The vessels included ships departing from Iraqi ports and one dry bulk vessel from an Iranian port, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler and separate satellite analysis by data analytics specialists SynMax.
Shipping traffic passing through the crucial waterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.
The US Central Command has redirected 37 vessels since a blockade was imposed on Iran on April 13, the military said on April 25.
Oil tankers return to Iran without offloading cargo
Six Iranian tankers returned to Iranian ports and sailed back through Hormuz in recent days with some 10.5 million barrels of oil, according to satellite analysis from TankerTrackers.com.
Around four million barrels of Iranian oil onboard tankers sailed through the US blockade on April 24, according to separate satellite analysis from TankerTrackers.com.
Russian superyacht crosses blockade
A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed.
Nord – a 142-meter yacht worth over $500 million – left a Dubai marina on Friday, crossed the strait on Saturday morning, and arrived in Muscat early on Sunday, according to data on the MarineTraffic platform.
It is not clear how the multi-deck pleasure vessel gained permission to use the route.
A representative of steel magnate Mordashov declined to comment on Monday.
Mordashov, known to be close to Putin, is not officially listed as the owner of Nord. But shipping data and Russian corporate records from 2025 show the vessel was registered to a Russian firm owned by his wife in 2022. This firm is registered in the Russian town of Cherepovets, where Mordashov’s steelmaker Severstal is also registered.
Mordashov was among a number of Russians sanctioned by the United States and European Union after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for their links to Putin.
One of the largest yachts in the world, Nord has 20 staterooms, a swimming pool, a helipad and a submarine, according to industry publisher Superyacht Times.
