A Panamax bulk carrier transporting corn to Iran has entered the Persian Gulf after crossing a U.S. blockade line outside the Strait of Hormuz, vessel-tracking records show.
The ship, the Verbier, is a Panamax-class bulk carrier with a carrying capacity of approximately 70,000 tons of dry bulk cargo and is listed as carrying corn destined for Bandar Imam Khomeini in Iran, according to tracking data from Bloomberg and Kpler.
Previous incidents involving Iran-linked vessels approaching the blockade line have resulted in ships being turned back, boarded, or disabled by the U.S. Navy. The Verbier may have been subject to a related episode on June 7, when it moved through the Red Sea toward the coast of Oman and then made an abrupt return voyage toward India. Two days after that U-turn, the vessel began heading back toward the Persian Gulf.
Tracking records show the Verbier was last detected on June 12 outside the Strait of Hormuz before it disappeared from public tracking services; it reappeared today inside the Persian Gulf.
A second Panamax bulk carrier carrying corn, the Kmax Evdokia, is recorded as transporting corn from Argentina and Brazil and is currently moored at Zayed port in Abu Dhabi. That vessel was last seen on June 13 outside the Strait of Hormuz before temporary disappearance from public trackers; it reappeared on June 16 off the western coast of the United Arab Emirates.
Iranian media reported on Tuesday that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, which began in mid-April, is being lifted. The reporting does not, in itself, provide additional operational details about enforcement activities or confirmations from other parties.
Public vessel-tracking gaps and the sequence of movements recorded for both ships are reflected in the available tracking data, but the public record shown here does not provide definitive detail on any specific interactions between these vessels and naval forces.
Methodological note - The timeline and vessel details above are drawn from publicly available vessel-tracking data cited in the reporting. Where tracking systems show a disappearance and later reappearance, that pattern is reported as observed in the public feeds.