By Joe Wallace
A sanctioned Chinese tanker with a history of evading U.S. restrictions on Iranian oil appeared to do a U-turn to sail back into the Persian Gulf after trying to exit the waterway through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Rich Starry, built to carry chemicals and oil products and flying a false Malawian flag, made it past the narrowest stretch of the strait before turning around on Tuesday, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler. The apparent change of direction came a day after the U.S. blockade of ships sailing to and from Iranian ports took effect.
Ship-tracking data suggest the ship had been sailing out of Hormuz from Emirati waters. But Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, which uses satellite imagery to see where vessels have sailed, said the Rich Starry has a history of sending out false signals while docking in Iranian ports to load up on oil products.
Many ships in the "shadow fleet" that move sanctioned oil fly false flags or broadcast false locations to disguise the origin of their cargo. It's unclear what, if anything, the Rich Starry was carrying.
The U.S. hasn't said it would target sanctioned vessels, promising only to act against ships entering and leaving Iranian ports in response to Iran's effective closure of the strait to Western shipping.
Another sanctioned tanker named Elpis ("hope" in Greek, but the ship is owned by a Malaysian firm) also appeared to stop at the opening of the Gulf of Oman Tuesday after passing through the strait just before the blockade took effect, according to financial-data provider LSEG.
The tanker Peace Gulf-which isn't under sanctions-sailed into the Persian Gulf from outside the strait, while dry-bulk carrier Manali cruised out through the hairpin bend of the Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman. Peace Gulf appeared take the "toll booth" route between Iran's Qeshm and Larak islands, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler, where Iran has said it would charge ships for transit.
Five more cargo or dry-bulk ships sailed in or out through the strait on Monday after the blockade began, LSEG data show. One of them, Parisan, was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020, when the Treasury said it was tied to a state-owned shipping line in Iran. Parisan still flies the Iranian flag, according to the European Union database Equasis.
Learn more about how the U.S. could enforce the blockade here.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 14, 2026 11:30 ET (15:30 GMT)
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