Murlikishan
US-sanctioned Chinese tanker; sister ship of Rich Starry, transited Hormuz on blockade day two to load fuel oil in Iraq.
Last refreshed: 14 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Two sanctioned tankers through Hormuz in 24 hours. Is the blockade stopping the right ships?
Timeline for Murlikishan
Entered the Strait of Hormuz on 14 April bound for Iraqi fuel-oil terminal
Iran Conflict 2026: Sanctioned tankers slip Hormuz on day one- What is the Murlikishan tanker?
- The Murlikishan is a US-sanctioned tanker owned by Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping of China, and the sister ship of the Rich Starry. It transited Hormuz on 14 April 2026, the day after the Rich Starry, and was expected to load fuel oil at an Iraqi terminal on 16 April.Source: Kpler, LSEG, MarineTraffic
- How did the Murlikishan get through the US blockade of Hormuz?
- CENTCOM's operational order only covers vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports. The Murlikishan, bound for an Iraqi terminal, fell outside that definition. OFAC sanctions do not automatically give the US Navy a boarding authority under CENTCOM's own operational rules.Source: Lowdown
- What flag does the Murlikishan tanker sail under?
- The Murlikishan is registered under a Chinese flag. It is owned by Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping, a company on the US OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list for carrying Iranian crude in breach of sanctions.Source: https://www.marinetraffic.com/
- What cargo does the Murlikishan carry?
- The Murlikishan carries fuel oil. In April 2026, it transited the Strait of Hormuz and was tracked heading to load fuel oil at an Iraqi terminal on 16 April 2026, one day after its sister ship the Rich Starry passed through unchallenged.Source: https://www.kpler.com/
Background
The Murlikishan is a US OFAC-sanctioned tanker, the second vessel from Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping to be confirmed transiting the Strait of Hormuz during the opening days of the CENTCOM blockade. It entered the strait on 14 April 2026, a day after its sister vessel the Rich Starry became the first ship through the blockade, and was expected to load fuel oil at an Iraqi terminal on 16 April. Its passage was confirmed by Kpler, LSEG and MarineTraffic.
Like the Rich Starry, the Murlikishan falls under US Treasury sanctions but is owned and crewed by Chinese nationals, and its routing through non-Iranian port destinations falls outside CENTCOM's narrowed operational order. CENTCOM narrowed Trump's original full-strait interdiction to vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports only; vessels bound for Iraqi, UAE or other Gulf terminals are not covered by that definition regardless of their sanctions status. OFAC sanctions designation does not automatically translate into a CENTCOM boarding authority.
The back-to-back transits of the Murlikishan and Rich Starry in the first 24 hours of the blockade demonstrated that the enforcement gap was structural rather than accidental. Together, the two vessels showed how dark-fleet economics improve every day non-sanctioned operators stay off the strait, and Windward separately tracked 14 vessels using scrapped-ship registry identities to evade detection, a fraud technique whose returns increase as non-sanctioned traffic shrinks.
