Marine tracking data shows the container ship Arista has been stuck in Iranian territorial waters north of Hormuz Island since mid-March, despite Iranian state TV portraying it this week as a foreign vessel newly grounded in the strait.
TankerTrackers.com and matching video details identified the ship as Arista, while state television blurred its name and did not show a registration number as it said the vessel ignored a Revolutionary Guard-designated route.
The ship had been sailing between Hormuz and the Iranian port of Asaluyeh, and shipping data says its current Comoros registration is a false flag masking Iranian ties.
On July 30, the U.S. Treasury linked the vessel under its former name Gauja to a sanctions-hit network it said generated tens of billions of dollars for Iran's ruling elite by moving Iranian and Russian oil and other goods.
The episode fits Tehran's broader effort since the Feb. 28 war with the U.S. and Israel to underscore its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil and gas shipments.