An Indian-flagged oil tanker, Jag Prakash, which is carrying gasoline from Oman to Africa, has set sail from east of the Strait of Hormuz, a top government official said on Friday.
Gulf shipping has been disrupted over the past two weeks as Iran targets the region in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks on it that resulted in the killing of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on February 28.
Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary at the ministry of shipping, told reporters that there were four Indian-flagged vessels stuck east of the Strait of Hormuz, in the Gulf of Oman, on Thursday, of which one, the Jag Prakash, had now set sail.
"Three vessels remain stuck at the east side, they have 76 Indian sailors onboard," he said.
Sinha added that 24 Indian-flagged vessels were stuck west of the Strait, in the Persian Gulf, on Friday, the same number as on Thursday, with a total of 677 Indian sailors onboard.
Ship-tracking data from Kpler showed that Jag Prakash will discharge fuel loaded at Oman's Sohar Port at Tanzania's Tanga Port on March 21.
Iran has allowed ships from some countries to cross the Strait of Hormuz, its deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Thursday, as the waterway remained effectively closed during the war with the US and Israel.
Attacks have targeted around 20 commercial vessels in or near the Strait of Hormuz, data analyst groups report, as the blockaded waterway becomes a front line in the Middle East war.
At least 10 oil tankers have been hit, targeted or reported attacks between the start of the conflict and midday on March 11, according to data from the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Iranian authorities.
Iran's quest to inflict maximum pain on the global economy in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes on its territory has all but shut the narrow strait through which 20 percent of global crude and LNG normally passes.
Only a tiny fraction of the vessels that used to navigate the strategic waterway have made it through, while some have ended up in flames.
Yesterday, Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said that the country will fight on and keep Hormuz shut as leverage against the United States and Israel, in defiant first comments attributed to him since he succeeded his father.
(With inputs from Reuters)
