From drone shipments to wheat: With closure of Strait of Hormuz, Caspian Sea is the alternative route between Russia and Iran

Caspian Sea as an alternative route

With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its blockade by the US Navy forces, Iran’s efforts to open alternative routes are progressing at a great pace.

Towards this, four Iranian ports along the Caspian Sea are working to bring in wheat, corn, animal feed, sunflower oil and other supplies.

Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, the head of the Association of Iran’s Food Industries, told the state broadcaster IRIB that Iran has been actively rerouting essential food imports through the Caspian, the NYT quoted.

Russian trade officials and port statistics also indicate a rapid increase in shipping through the Caspian in recent months.

About 2 million tons of wheat that used to be shipped from Russia to Iran over a single year through the Black Sea is going via the Caspian, Vitaly Chernov, the head of the organisation that tracks Russia’s maritime industry. This is because the Black Sea is currently under the threat of attacks by Ukraine.

“Against the backdrop of instability in the Middle East, Caspian routes to Iran look much more attractive,” Chernov told the news agency.

Why the Caspian?

The Caspian is considered to be the largest lake in the world, with most trade occurring through the route being opaque.

Proven to be difficult to monitor from a distance, ships plying the route between Russian and Iranian ports turn off the transponders that allow for satellite tracking, as per maritime tracking groups.

Moreover, the US cannot interdict ships passing through the Caspian, as only five bordering nations have access to the route.

It serves as the “ideal place for sanction evasion and military transfers,” Nicole Grajewski, a professor specialising in Iran and Russia at Sciences Po in Paris, told the NYT.