International

Russian superyacht sails through blockaded Strait of Hormuz

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by Sophie Brams - 04/28/26 10:50 AM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 04/28/26 10:50 AM ET

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A Russian-flagged superyacht sailed through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, one of only a few private vessels to pass through the blockaded waterway since the start of the U.S. conflict with Iran, according to maritime traffic data.

Data from the MarineTraffic platform showed that the nearly 142-meter-long Nord left a Dubai port on Friday, sailed through the strait and arrived at a port in Muscat, Oman, on Sunday morning local time. The yacht is linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov.

Tehran has restricted traffic through the strait for two months as part of its retaliatory campaign against the U.S. and Israel, injecting uncertainty into the global oil market. The channel transports about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply daily during peacetime.

Iran has fired upon several vessels attempting to pass through in recent days, while the U.S. has ordered dozens of ships back to port and intercepted at least one Iranian vessel as part of its naval blockade.

President Trump has also ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” any boat caught laying mines in the waterway as so-called U.S. “mine sweepers” work to clear Iranian mines from the channel.

Russia has benefited from the standoff, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars more than usual from oil sales since the outset of the conflict, due to the Trump administration easing sanctions in an attempt to stave off a worldwide energy crisis.

President Vladimir Putin hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, one of Tehran’s lead negotiators in ceasefire talks, for a meeting in Moscow on Monday during which the two officials reaffirmed deep ties.

Russian state-owned media TASS reported that Putin said Moscow “intends to maintain” strategic relations with Iran and would do everything in its power to achieve peace in the Middle East.

The meeting came after Iran refused to commit to another round of direct talks with U.S. officials to end hostilities, instead conveying their views to Pakistani intermediaries in Islamabad over the weekend before departing the country.

A U.S. delegation, led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, was also set to arrive in Pakistan on Saturday, but Trump called off the trip.

“Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership,’” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “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!!!”

The Iranians have reportedly offered to loosen their grip on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. ending its naval blockade, but want to defer discussions on its nuclear program — a proposal deemed “unacceptable” by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We can’t let them get away with it,” Rubio told Fox News host Trey Yingst in an interview on Monday. “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.”

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