A Chinese tanker has defied Donald Trump’s blockade and passed through the Strait of Hormuz after Beijing accused the president of ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ behaviour.
The US President threatened to stop ‘any and all ships’ from using the strait from Monday in an attempt to regain control over the shipping route after peace talks with Iran failed.
He claimed Iran’s navy was ‘lying at the bottom of the sea’ and their final ‘fast attack ships’ would be ‘immediately eliminated’ if they tried to prevent his siege.
But Iranian-linked and Chinese vessels ignored Mr Trump and continued to pass through the waterway on Tuesday as Saudi Arabia urged the US to let ships pass.
A US-sanctioned Chinese ship transporting Iranian crude oil transited through on Tuesday after it circled the area late on Monday.
The Rich Starry, a medium-range tanker that is carrying about 250,000 barrels of oil, is owned by Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co Ltd.
It traveled through the strait, having loaded the cargo at its last port of call, the United Arab Emirates’ Hamriyah Port, according to data from Kpler and MarineTraffic.
China said a US blockade around Iranian ports was ‘dangerous and irresponsible’, after Mr Trump threatened to sink any boats that sought to leave or dock there.
‘The US increased military operations and took a targeted blockade action, which will only exacerbate tensions and undermine the already fragile ceasefire agreement and further jeopardise safety of passage through the Strait,’ Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
Two other Iranian-linked tankers entered the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping data showed.
Handy tanker Murlikishan is heading to Iraq to load fuel oil on April 16. The vessel, formerly known as MKA, has transported Russian and Iranian oil.
Panama-flagged Peace Gulf, a medium-range tanker, is heading to Hamriyah Port in the UAE.
The vessel typically moves Iranian naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, to other non-Iranian Middle Eastern ports for export to Asia.
Mr Trump ordered the US navy to blockade the strait from 3pm on Monday in a bid to regain the initiative 45 days into the war.
Vessels using the strait to travel to and from non-Iranian ports will not be impeded.
Iran shut down the shipping lane through which a fifth of global oil passes following joint US-Israeli strikes that caused a worldwide economic meltdown.
Tehran allowed a handful of friendly ships through and charged them in an unofficial toll system. However, Mr Trump has now decided to block all vessels.
Saudi Arabia is now pressing the US to drop the blockade and return to negotiations.
Saudi officials fear the US closure could force Iran to escalate and disrupt other important shipping routes, the Wall Street Journal reports.
There are concerns Iran could retaliate and close the Bab al-Mandeb, a Red Sea chokepoint through which around 12 per cent of oil flows daily.
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei promised Iran has ‘large, untouched levers’ to strike back against Trump’s blockage, quipping that they cannot be pressured by ‘tweets and imaginary plans.’
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf – who led negotiations with JD Vance on behalf of Iran – warned Americans that ‘soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4-$5 gas.’
Traffic in the strait has been limited even in the days since the ceasefire. Marine trackers say over 40 commercial ships have crossed since the pause in fighting.
Mr Trump claimed that the threat posed by the Iranian Navy is ‘gone’ from the key waterway thanks to the US military assault on Iran since February 28.
However, experts have warned that though much of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ large battleships have been destroyed, the smaller boats that control the Strait are still intact.
‘Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,’ Trump announced via Truth Social on Sunday morning.
‘Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!’ he added.
‘Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country.
‘Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khamenei, and most of their “Leaders,” are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition. The Blockade will begin shortly.’
It comes amid a tenuous two-week ceasefire deal Trump struck with Tehran, which agreed to stop fighting in exchange for the opening of the strait.
Iran warned by marine radio that any unauthorized ships trying to cross the strait in the meantime would be destroyed.
Only four ships passed on day one, and Iran plans to limit traffic to about a dozen daily, down from more than 100.
Tehran has also warned of possible antiship mines, urging vessels to follow new coastal routes with Revolutionary Guard guidance.
Mr Trump insisted on Monday that Iran wanted to make a deal ‘very badly’ as his blockade of the Islamic regime’s own oil blockade came into force.
The US President claimed the only sticking point between the warring nations was ‘over nuclear’, claiming Iran wanted an atomic bomb so it could ‘exterminate the world’.
But he suggested once more that a deal was close, even though peace talks in Pakistan broke down in less than 24 hours on Sunday and despite fears that the ceasefire could end at ‘any moment’.
