Two sanctioned cargo vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, apparently bound for Iranian ports despite Washington's blockade in the Middle East war, tracking data indicated Thursday.
A trickle of ships has passed the crucial trade route over the past two days after the US imposed a counter-blockade following the failure of peace talks to end the nearly seven-week conflict.
The US military said on X on Thursday that "after 72 hours of enforcement, 14 vessels have turned around to comply with the blockade at the direction of American forces".
However, unlike previous updates, it did not say that it had prevented all crossing attempts by vessels going to or from Iranian ports.
- Cargoes near Iran -
Late Wednesday, the sanctioned container ship Zaynar 2 made its way westward through the strait into the Gulf, according to the tracking platform Marine Traffic.
The website specified its destination as Larak Island, close to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and it last transponded close to that location late Wednesday.
The sanctioned cargo vessel Neshat followed a similar route, hugging the Iran coastline as it crossed the strait early Thursday, with Marine Traffic citing its destination as Bandar Abbas.
Its latest signal at around 1500 GMT showed it anchored 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the port.
"There's evidence that ships are perhaps breaking through" the US blockade, Tom Sharpe, a former commander with the UK's Royal Navy, told a briefing for the maritime analyst group Windward on Thursday.
"That I don't understand particularly, because from a military perspective, from a tactical perspective, this blockade is not that hard to do. They've got the ships there to do it," he said.
- Oil supertankers -
Trackers indicated that two giant oil tankers, both under US sanctions, had successfully passed westward through the strait and broken the blockade.
The very large crude carriers (VLCC), the RHN and the Alicia, crossed the strait through Iran's approved route and were still sailing westwards within the Gulf on Thursday, stating their destinations as "For Order", according to Marine Traffic.
However their destination was not clear -- they followed a route taken by other Iranian-sanctioned vessels that have crossed westwards in recent days, but whose stated destination was Iraq, meaning they would not be subject to the US blockade.
Other vessels apparently heading to Iraq include a third VLCC, the Agios Fanouris I, and a liquid petroleum gas tanker, the G Summer, the data showed.
Bridget Diakun, senior risk and compliance analyst at Lloyd's List Intelligence, told a briefing there was evidence of "Iranian-linked vessels that are pausing their voyages or reversing course".
But she added: "We've also seen ships that have reached Iranian ports and that have departed as well."
Summing up the the shipping situation under the blockade over the last 24 hours, Lloyd's maritime risk analyst Tomer Raanan told the briefing: "Confusion reigns."
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