New Delhi: Three Indian-flagged crude supertankers slipped through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and are now bound for India carrying 94 Indian crew, narrowly passing before Iran’s military announced a renewed closure of the waterway.
Tracking information compiled by Bloomberg showed one vessel, Desh Vibhor, still negotiating its way through the strait earlier in the day after initially turning toward a southerly route advised by the US military, then reversing course back toward Iran’s coastline. Later on Saturday evening, Union minister for ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal confirmed that all three ships — Desh Vaibhav, Desh Vibhor and Sanmar Herald — had completed the transit safely and were headed to Indian ports, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The three tankers together are transporting roughly 860,000 tonnes of crude — about 285,000 tonnes per ship — and are expected to reach India between June 24 and July 1, Sonowal said. Desh Vaibhav and Desh Vibhor are due at Vadinar and Sikka in Gujarat on June 24; Sanmar Herald, the last to cross, is scheduled to reach Paradip, Odisha, on July 1.
“Our ministry is actively coordinating with all relevant agencies to guarantee the absolute safety of Bharat’s seafarers and energy lifelines,” Sonowal said, praising the government’s “highest priority” focus on maritime security under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The ministry said ten Indian vessels remained in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, stationed on the western side of the strait the three tankers had just crossed.
Strait Briefly Reopened After Diplomatic Deal
The strait reopened earlier this week after Washington and Tehran struck an interim deal under which Iran agreed to dilute part of its highly enriched uranium stockpile in exchange for a temporary US sanctions waiver that allowed it to resume oil sales.
The US also lifted its naval blockade on Thursday, removing restrictions that had made the waterway largely unusable for months, though Tehran kept insisting no vessel could transit without its permission.
On Saturday evening Iran’s joint military command announced the strait was being closed again, blaming Israeli strikes in Lebanon and accusing the US of “bad faith,” warning that “if the aggression continues, subsequent steps have been planned.”
Closure Declared Amid Diplomatic Moves
Iran confirmed the closure even as members of its negotiating team — parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and senior central bank and oil officials — were travelling to Switzerland for talks. The move highlighted the delicate balance between Tehran’s diplomatic outreach and its military posture.
