The US-Iran agreement includes exemptions from oil sanctions, with 68 million barrels of stranded crude awaiting release, and Iranian oil tankers collectively activating location tracking, indicating the lifting of the blockade.

BlockBeats News, June 17 — With the countdown to the signing of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding underway, signals that Iran’s crude oil exports are being unblocked have been released one after another. According to Bloomberg’s ship tracking data, in recent days, four Iranian oil tankers have reactivated their positioning transponders and have proactively sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. This includes two ultra-large crude oil carriers with a single-voyage capacity of 2 million barrels, as well as two refined product tankers that successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz. On the same day, tanker data agency TankerTrackers.com disclosed that at least three tankers that had previously been berthed at Chabahar Port have left their berths.

Iranian oil tankers have long evaded sanctions tracking by turning off positioning signals, forging signals, and interfering with them. This time, the collective proactive public navigation of multiple ships has been interpreted by the market as an early sign that the U.S. maritime blockade is gradually being lifted.

At the level of the agreement, Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing sources close to the final draft of the deal, said the U.S.-Iran agreement will grant Iran an upfront waiver from pre-existing oil sanctions. After the agreement is signed, Iran can immediately sell crude oil to the outside world without needing any additional transition period. Shipping analytics firm Kpler estimates that, due to the U.S. blockade, around 68 million barrels of Iranian crude oil are currently stranded at sea and cannot be exported. Once the export routes are opened, a large increase in incremental supply will directly ease the global situation of tight crude oil supply and impact oil prices.

Iran’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said through the ISNA media outlet that the U.S. maritime blockade of Iran’s ports, launched in April this year, has entered a phased deblocking stage. Under the plans worked out by both sides, after the formal signing of the peace agreement this Friday, Iran’s blockade of the routes through the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. maritime ban targeting all Iranian shipping will be lifted simultaneously. The U.S. Central Command has not yet responded to related inquiries.