Hormuz, Iranian blacklist rises to 56 ships

Eleven more ships, for a total of 56 barred from transit. On September 3 the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), the body through which Iran claims jurisdiction over the Strait of Hormuz, updated its list of “non-compliant” vessels, according to what was reported by MarineLink based on the authority’s own website and by The Tribune. We wrote about the penalty mechanism announced by Tehran on August 25; today’s update is its first application on a broader scale.

The previous list, released on August 24, counted 45 tankers accused of violating the navigation rules imposed by Iran in the Strait (gCaptain). The scale of consequences envisaged by the PGSA is progressive: first restrictions on subsequent passages, then fines, then detention of the vessel and, at the final step, confiscation (MarineLink).

The composition of the list indicates to whom the message is addressed: not only large crude oil tankers, but also vessels carrying liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, as well as units for refined products (gCaptain). The authority adds a contagion clause: “any ship that cooperates with the listed ships will be added to the list” (transl. from English), with explicit reference to ship-to-ship cargo transfers, according to the text published by the PGSA and picked up by MarineLink. This is the point that extends the weight of the measure beyond the 56 named units, since it involves anyone who supplies them or lightens their cargo at sea.

On the nature of the body the parties diverge, and the divergence is a matter of record. The United States sanctioned the PGSA in May 2026, claiming that the entity, backed by the Revolutionary Guards, runs an extortion scheme against commercial shipping (The Tribune). On the Iranian side the available material is the list itself and the terminology with which it is constructed: the vessels are described as non-compliant with the navigation rules set by Iran in the Strait, and the penalties are presented as their graduated consequence (gCaptain; MarineLink). In the sources consulted no official response from Tehran to the US accusations appears.

The contrast can also be read in the numbers. According to CNN, picked up by AGI, on September 1 US forces escorted 40 commercial ships through the Strait, carrying a total of 18 million barrels, while on the same day striking nearly 60 Iranian military targets. The figure comes from US sources and is attributed: at present there is no independent confirmation of the number of targets struck. Two parallel claims to control over the same stretch of water thus emerge — one administrative, exercised through lists and sanctions; the other military, exercised through escorts — and the risk falls on shipowners, who must choose which of the two authorities to recognize.

The news of the list’s update rests on four distinct sources, including the text published by the PGSA itself and the wire agency reports. For operators the practical reckoning is immediate: 56 ships that, if they enter Hormuz, are exposed according to Tehran to detention or loss of the hull, and an automatic extension of the ban to anyone trading with them on the open sea.