Iran threatened legal action on Tuesday against all vessels belonging to South Korean shipping company Sinokor operating in the Strait of Hormuz. The warning came from the Arabian Gulf Strait Authority, a body set up by Tehran to manage passage requests in the waterway.
The authority announced on social media platform X that the legal measures would take effect on November 1. It stated that Sinokor vessels had recorded the highest number of crossing violations in the strait over the preceding three months.
Tehran has targeted shipping in the corridor after US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran has restricted transit through the waterway to pressure Washington and has disrupted oil flows from Arab Gulf producers to Asian customers.
The Arabian Gulf Strait Authority reported that measures had already been taken against at least seven Sinokor ships. Previously, Sinokor vessels appeared on an Iranian list published in August featuring 45 tankers accused of breaching crossing rules in the strait.
The Korea Shipowners’ Association stated on Wednesday that the targeted vessels did not belong to Sinokor. The association explained that the ships were sub-chartered to an overseas oil company and operated without any South Korean crew members, carrying only foreign seafarers.
The association gathered this information by consulting a Sinokor official. Sinokor had received no prior notification regarding the separate warning of legal action and was investigating the details.
The United States responded to the regional attacks by instituting a naval blockade targeting vessels linked to the Islamic Republic within the strait. This American naval action has largely blocked Iranian exports.
Gulf oil producers have altered their shipping methods to protect petroleum exports tied to their economies. Producers now rely on dark transits, disabling the tracking systems of tankers to avoid detection during passage.
