Around 20 empty Iranian oil tankers are reportedly stranded approximately 15 miles off Sri Lanka’s southwestern coast, with several vessels facing shortages of food, fuel and fresh water amid tightening US sanctions and maritime restrictions, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the report issued on Thursday (01), US officials have pressured Sri Lanka in recent weeks to prevent local vessels from supplying essential provisions to the stranded tankers and their crews, citing Sri Lankan government documents and companies involved in providing supplies to the ships.
The situation follows the United States’ decision to reimpose its maritime blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in July, leaving dozens of Iranian and Iran-linked tankers involved in transporting sanctioned oil to China stranded near Asian countries, including Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
The vessels are reportedly mostly empty tankers that previously transported Iranian crude oil towards Asia, often through ship-to-ship transfers, before attempting to return to Iran to collect additional cargo.
The WSJ further reported that the US Embassy had warned Sri Lanka in August that it was tracking 19 Iranian tankers off the country’s western coast, while raising concerns over potential secondary sanctions against companies providing services to sanctioned vessels.
Sri Lanka subsequently maintained that the vessels were positioned outside its 12-nautical-mile territorial waters and that the government was not providing them with logistical assistance.
Meanwhile, shipping companies told the WSJ that obtaining authorisation to deliver essential supplies, including food, drinking water, fuel and repair services, to Iranian vessels had become increasingly difficult.
Separately, Reuters reported in late August that 27 sanctioned Iran-linked tankers were waiting off Sri Lanka without cargo.
The Trump administration has also introduced additional sanctions against Iran and warned its trading partners to sever ties with Tehran, as Washington seeks to pressure Iran into making concessions amid the ongoing conflict.
Similar concentrations of Iran-linked tankers have also been reported near Malaysia, where waters have historically been used for ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian crude destined largely for China. (Newswire/ WSJ)