Iran Gears Up to Boost Oil Exports Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. June 17, 2026 © Adobe Stock/chernikovatv While U.S. President Donald Trump has recently hailed the resumption of oil flows from Gulf allies, Iran, too, appears to be gearing up to resume exports and trading. At least three tankers carrying some five million barrels of Iranian oil have sailed through the U.S. naval blockade this week,  shipping  data shows, despite the U.S. military saying its operations against Iran-linked  shipping  will stay in place until Friday. The oil market has focused on a deal to end the Iran war which Trump announced on June 14 and is scheduled to be signed on Friday in Switzerland. "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday. "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!" Iran's deputy foreign minister said a more expansive agreement would be negotiated during a 60-day ceasefire period. "The gap between the announcement and the expected signing on June 19 gives both sides scope for issuing conflicting statements on the agreement," said Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. In terms of ship movements, the Hero II and Diona, very large crude carriers carrying 2 million barrels of oil each, have passed through the Gulf of Oman and are heading for Asia, ship-tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa showed. The Sonia I, carrying 1 million barrels, has also passed the blockade and is heading to Singapore, Kpler, Vortexa and LSEG data showed. An empty returning Iranian-linked VLCC, Stream, is sailing back toward the U.S. blockade, according to Kpler and LSEG data, while the partly laden Iranian-flagged Herby supertanker was following close behind, separate LSEG data showed on Wednesday. "The signal has gone out and they are repositioning in expectation of the end of the U.S. blockade. Clearly, a system reboot is in progress,"