Weilun Soon | Bloomberg | Tuesday, August 18, 2026 | 07:11 AM UTC
A fuel tanker trying to enter the Persian Gulf has made an erratic series of turns and come to a halt near Iran’s Qeshm Island, as the country steps up efforts to control the Strait of Hormuz.
The Amara sailed into the gulf empty on Monday with its transponders on, before making a series of at least five U-turns, ship-tracking data show. It’s now at a standstill in the northern part of the waterway that has served as a route for transits approved by Iran.
That came as the country’s semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday that a tanker belonging to a United Arab Emirates company, which it didn’t name, was detained in the strait, adding that ships must pay for transits through Hormuz.
Hours later, the UK Navy reported that another vessel had been struck by an unknown projectile as it was exiting the gulf along the Omani coast.
Shipowners and charterers have become increasingly nervous about having vessels cross the strait either dark or with transponders on, as Iranian forces stepped up hostilities over the past week. Before the latest strike, there had been seven attacks on ships crossing Hormuz this month, with three of them taking place since Friday, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a naval security monitoring group.
The upsurge comes as the so-called shuttle trade, where crude is ferried out of the gulf and then transferred to other ships in the Gulf of Oman, increases in popularity, and helps to keep a lid on oil price rises. The UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has been a major user of this method to keep exporting energy, and it now appears that Saudi Arabia may be ramping up similar efforts.
Amara’s UAE-based technical and safety manager didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. There were no contact details listed on maritime database Equasis for its owner.
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