Dozens of tankers carrying Iranian oil remain waiting near the country’s coast under a US blockade, while other vessels are holding at locations across the Indo-Pacific rather than returning to Iranian ports, according to monitoring group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).
In an Oct. 5 shipping update, UANI said at least 50 laden tankers were backed up near Iran, a level it said was broadly unchanged from two months earlier. The vessels are mainly carrying crude oil, with additional cargoes including petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas.
The nonprofit group said empty tankers were also remaining at anchorages outside the Persian Gulf because of the blockade. It identified 20 Iran-flagged vessels off Sri Lanka and one vessel off Oman.
Operational context
Within the Persian Gulf, UANI said at least 11 laden tankers were anchored east of Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal. A further five laden tankers were positioned farther south. The group said no tankers were observed loading at Kharg on Monday.
The reported vessel backlog comes as Washington seeks to increase economic pressure on Tehran through a near-total blockade. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an Axios interview that Iran would have no oil on the water during the week, describing it as a first. A US military tally indicated that 130 vessels had been redirected.
Preliminary vessel-tracking estimates compiled by Bloomberg indicated that Iran loaded no crude oil onto tankers in September. According to the estimates, crude loadings fell to zero during the month, marking the first such occurrence since the war began in February.
The concentration of laden vessels near Iranian waters and the presence of empty Iran-linked ships at distant anchorages point to a disruption not only to exports but also to the repositioning of tonnage needed for future cargo movements. With tankers unable or unwilling to return to Iranian loading ports, the blockade is affecting both loaded vessels awaiting onward movement and ships that would normally cycle back to the country for further cargoes.
The situation also highlights the importance of the Persian Gulf and surrounding waters to Iran’s oil export chain. Kharg Island is the country’s principal export terminal, and the absence of observed loadings there adds to indications of sharply reduced seaborne crude flows.
UANI describes itself as a non-partisan policy organization. Its figures provide a snapshot of tanker positions and cargo status based on its shipping monitoring, while Bloomberg’s vessel-tracking estimates separately indicate that Iranian crude loading activity halted in September.