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The U.S. military has intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged oil tankers in Asian waters, off the coasts of Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka, and redirected them away from their positions, shipping and security sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
The move is seen as a significant expansion of the Iranian naval blockade beyond the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf into open-ocean operations.
Reuters identified three vessels confirmed by shipping sources, U.S. and Indian shipping contacts and two separate Western maritime security sources.
The Iranian-flagged supertanker Deep Sea was partially loaded with crude and last seen on public tracking data off Malaysia's coast approximately one week ago.
The smaller Iranian-flagged Sevin, with a maximum capacity of 1 million barrels and carrying approximately 65% of its load, was also intercepted and last seen off Malaysia's coast one month ago.
The Iranian-flagged supertanker Dorena, fully loaded with 2 million barrels of crude, was last seen off the coast of southern India three days ago.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the Dorena was under escort by a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean following an attempt to breach the blockade.
A fourth vessel, the Iranian-flagged Derya tanker, may also have been intercepted, Reuters reported. The vessel had failed to discharge its Iranian oil cargo in India before a U.S. waiver on Iranian crude purchases expired Sunday. It was last seen off India's western coast on Friday, according to MarineTraffic data.
A third maritime security source told Reuters the U.S. military was "looking to target Iranian ships away from the Strait of Hormuz and in open waters to avoid any risk of floating mines during operations", explaining the geographic shift in interception activity to Asian waters.
CENTCOM said Wednesday that since the start of the blockade, U.S. forces had directed 29 vessels, revised to 31 in a later statement, to turn around or return to port.
The U.S. military has not publicly listed all ships it has intercepted.
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The Asian water interceptions follow the seizure of the Iranian cargo ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman last weekend, disabled by the USS Spruance after firing into its engine room, and the boarding of an Iranian oil tanker in the Indian Ocean.
Iran separately announced Wednesday that it had seized and escorted the container ships MSC Francesca and Epaminondas to the Iranian coast in the Strait of Hormuz, calling their transit unauthorized.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted approximately one-fifth of the world's oil and gas supply, triggering a global energy crisis.
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