About five dozen vessels moved toward Dubai in just one day, joining a growing cluster of at least 363 ships currently off the emirate in the Persian Gulf as Iran signaled it is expanding the area around the Strait of Hormuz it now controls.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unveiled on Monday a new map showing expanded areas around the critical chokepoint that Iran now claims to have under control. The area extends from a line between Kuh-e Mobarak in Iran and south of Fujairah in the UAE, and from another line between the end of Iran’s Qeshm Island and Umm Al Quwain in the UAE, according to the IRGC Navy.
Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the UAE, is just outside this new expanded area under Iranian control.
Since Monday, nearly 60 vessels of all types have moved toward Dubai to an area of a large cluster of ships monitored by Bloomberg News.
At least 363 vessels are in this area off Dubai, at least according to their tracking signals, which have become increasingly difficult to monitor and read since the war began and the Strait of Hormuz was closed.
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The tensions in the area re-escalated on Monday, after the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump of an operation dubbed “Project Freedom”, to guide ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz out of the waterway. Iran responded to the announcement with a warning that U.S. forces “will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz”.
Iran on Monday attacked the port of Fujairah, a vital oil hub that sits right outside the Strait of Hormuz, and which saw several attacks before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was announced in early April.
The ceasefire looks increasingly fragile as of Tuesday, while dark oil loadings and transit activity from Iran continues.
“Kharg Island is operating under a near-total dark posture,” maritime intelligence firm Windward said on Monday, adding that Iranian oil cargo routes to Asia start to shift via Indonesia’s Lombok Strait, avoiding the more visible Strait of Malacca.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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