Even as Iran’s effective blockade of the critical maritime chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz continues to be in place, there are strong indications that Tehran is selectively allowing some traffic to transit the Strait’s fraught waters by providing negotiated safe passages based on its talks with other governments and stakeholders, according to industry watchers and vessel tracking data. Rather unusual routes—through Iran’s territorial waters—taken by vessels that recently transited the Strait of Hormuz are being taken as a major signal of Tehran regulating the flow of maritime traffic through the Strait, which accounts for one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows.Amid the raging conflict in West Asia, which started with the US and Israel launching military strikes against Iran on February 28, the vessel movements through the Strait of Hormuz have crashed. While Iran claimed that the Strait is closed only for the vessels linked to the US, Israel, and their allies while being open for others, a few vessels of evidently neutral countries are also reported to have come under attack. This has led to most trading houses, insurers, and vessels becoming loath to get involved in the prevailing extremely high-risk environment. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts by various countries to get their vessels out of the Persian Gulf have picked up.Must Read | Israel strikes South Pars: Why the gas field is so important for Iran — and QatarIndia has been engaged with Iran at the diplomatic level for safe passage of Indian ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which helped its two LPG tankers—Shivalik and Nanda Devi—to transit the strait. In a recent interview to the Financial Times, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that there was no “blanket arrangement” with Iran for India-flagged ships, “every ship movement is an individual happening”, he added, while saying that he remained engaged in talks with Tehran. Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi told CBS on Sunday that Iran was “open” to countries that want to discuss “safe passage of their vessels”.India currently has 22 merchant vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf, and a majority of those are oil and gas tankers. They cumulatively hold 3.2 lakh tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 2 lakh tonnes of LNG, and 16 lakh tonnes of crude oil destined for India. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India continues to be in constant contact with all relevant governments at various political and diplomatic levels and is making efforts to ensure that Indian vessels can achieve safe and unhindered transit to maintain the country’s energy security.Unusual exit paths through Iranian watersAs per data from maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic, as of Tuesday night, a total of 15 vessels had transited the Strait—the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that connections the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman—over the past three days, including eight dry bulk vessels, five tankers, and two LPG carriers. Notably, around 87% were outbound transits, with many vessels taking curious routes through Iranian territorial waters.According to a recent note by maritime intelligence provider Windward, at least five ships over March 15 and 16 crossed the Strait of Hormuz via a route “that takes ships well within Iran’s territorial waters, circumventing shorter, normal international navigation channels”. International shipping journal Lyod’s List said that recent vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz show some ships sailing through Iran’s territorial waters, particularly going around Larak island in the Strait, as they exit the Persian Gulf. According to observers, this type of an unusual routing through Iran’s territorial waters suggests that the vessels had received Tehran’s nod to exit the Persian Gulf.Prior to the transits by these vessels, the crossing had been largely limited to vessels linked to Iran, and some linked to China and Greece. According to ship tracking data, some vessels have been broadcasting that they are Chinese-owned and have Chinese crew on board, which suggests that there may be a tacit understanding between Tehran and Beijing. “The pattern suggests the possibility of an informal access filter, where vessels signaling Chinese ownership or crew may be attempting to indicate neutrality or avoid targeting in the current conflict environment,” Windward said in a note last week.Story continues below this adAlso Read | The other Hormuz: Inside the kaleidoscopic mountains near the Persian GulfNotably, a couple of Liberia flagged oil tankers that came to India over the past week from the Persian Gulf have Greece-based owners and commercial managers. Both the tankers—Shenlong and Smyrni—have Athens-based Dynacom Tankers Management as their commercial manager. Although the two tankers are listed under two different registered owners, both those firms have the same Athens address, which is also the address of Dynacom.Pakistani, Indian vessels among those taking unusual routeOne of the most recent examples of a vessel taking this route was Pakistan-flagged oil tanker Karachi—the first non-Iranian merchant vessel to transit the chokepoint while broadcasting its Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal, which gives the real-time location of a vessel, as per MarineTraffic data. The tanker went through the waters between Qeshm island (on Larak’s east) and Larak island to take a longer, circuitous path before crossing, as against the shorter and straighter conventional path through the middle of the Strait, the tracking data shows.The two India-flagged LPG tankers that recently crossed the Strait following diplomatic efforts by India had evidently switched off their AIS transponders—called “going dark”—like most others transiting the chokepoint to avoid public detection. However, the last-received location data of one of them—Nanda Devi—before it crossed the Strait placed it very close to the Qeshm island—an otherwise unusual location to cross the Strait—before it went dark.According to Lloyd’s List, Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Minoan Sky also sailed around Larak island before crossing the Strait to go east. The ship is owned and managed by Greece-based firms. Turkey also confirmed that one Turkish-owned vessel was allowed by Iran to transit the Strait after calling at an Iranian port, as per a Reuters report.Story continues below this ad“It does appear that a small number of tankers are still managing to transit the Strait of Hormuz, but likely under very specific circumstances. In the case of vessels like the Karachi tanker, routing through or close to Iranian territorial waters could indicate that they are receiving some level of tacit clearance or are following designated safe corridors coordinated with Iranian authorities,” said Sumit Ritolia, lead research analyst, refining & modeling, at Kpler, a commodity market analytics firm that owns MarineTraffic.“The Indian tankers that crossed earlier with AIS switched off suggest a more cautious approach. Disabling AIS is often used in sensitive transit situations to reduce tracking visibility, particularly when vessels are navigating through areas where security risks or political sensitivities are elevated,” he said, adding that the current situation still doesn’t point to a move towards normalisation of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which usually accounts for one-fifth of international oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows.Certain cargoes or vessels may be allowed passage depending on their origin, destination, flag, or diplomatic arrangements. This means that while some tankers are still able to move through the strait, the overall flow of crude and products remains highly constrained and uncertain, Ritolia said.