U.S. forces conducted an overnight right of visit boarding of the stateless tanker MT Davina in the Indian Ocean, the Department of War said Friday. The vessel has been under U.S. sanctions since October 2024, when the Treasury Department identified it and its owner, Davina Shipping Inc., as part of Iran's shadow fleet shipping crude oil to refineries in China in support of the National Iranian Oil Company.
The boarding is at least the third U.S. interdiction of a sanctioned shadow fleet tanker in the Indian Ocean since April, following operations against the Majestic X and the Tifani. Earlier in the week, U.S. Central Command said an aircraft fired a Hellfire missile into the engine room of the tanker Lexie after its crew ignored roughly 24 hours of warnings while heading for Kharg Island, Iran's main crude export terminal.
The Lexie strike was the sixth commercial vessel disabled since the Trump administration imposed its maritime blockade on Iran in April. U.S. officials now say forces have redirected 129 commercial vessels and disabled six others to enforce blockade restrictions, a scale of open ocean intervention not seen in the region in decades.
Treasury also announced a fresh round of sanctions Friday under its Economic Fury campaign, targeting a network accused of disguising Iranian liquefied petroleum gas as Omani product and shipping millions of barrels to buyers across South and East Asia. Six LPG carriers, multiple shipping companies, traders and exchange houses were designated, with front companies in the United Arab Emirates and China named as conduits for the trade.
The expanding enforcement zone changes the calculus for owners and charterers well outside the Persian Gulf, since any vessel suspected of carrying Iranian crude or LPG now risks boarding in international waters. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the campaign would continue to sever Iran's shadow fleet, shadow banking networks and access to global trade, a signal that operational risk for tanker operators touching Iranian cargoes is set to keep rising.