A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, maritime tracking data shows, making it one of the few private vessels to navigate the waterway since Iran effectively blockaded it two months ago.
Data from MarineTraffic indicates the nearly 142-meter-long Nord, flying a Russian flag, departed a Dubai port on Friday, transited the strait, and arrived in Muscat, Oman, on Sunday morning. The vessel is tied to Mordashov, who faces sanctions from the U.S. and other Western nations.
Tehran has restricted traffic through the strait—a chokepoint for roughly one-fifth of the global oil supply in peacetime—as part of its retaliation against U.S. and Israeli operations. Iranian forces have fired on several vessels attempting to cross in recent days, while the U.S. Navy has ordered dozens of ships back to port and intercepted at least one Iranian vessel as part of its own naval blockade.
President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” any boat caught laying mines in the waterway, as American mine-sweeping efforts continue to clear Iranian mines from the channel. The standoff has reshaped global energy markets and provided a financial windfall for Moscow.
Russia has profited from the crisis, earning hundreds of millions of dollars more than usual from oil sales since the conflict began, as the Trump administration eased sanctions to avert a worldwide energy crunch. President Vladimir Putin hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Moscow on Monday, reaffirming strategic ties. State-owned TASS reported Putin said Moscow “intends to maintain” relations with Tehran and would do everything possible to achieve peace in the Middle East.
The meeting came after Iran declined to commit to another round of direct talks with U.S. officials, instead conveying its views through Pakistani intermediaries in Islamabad over the weekend. A U.S. delegation led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had been scheduled to travel to Pakistan on Saturday, but Trump canceled the trip. In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
Iran has reportedly offered to ease its grip on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. ending its naval blockade, but wants to postpone discussions on its nuclear program. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called that proposal “unacceptable.” In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Rubio said: “We can’t let them get away with it. They’re very good negotiators. They’re very experienced negotiators, and we have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitely prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.”
The standoff continues to test the fragile balance in the region, with both sides digging in. For more on the diplomatic stalemate, see our analysis of Rubio's rejection of Iran's Hormuz proposal and the broader challenge of Iran's leverage in the strait.
