A $700m super-yacht linked to a Russian oligarch just sailed through the Strait of Hormuz

A super-yacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov sailed through the Strait
of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, one of very few vessels to transit the blockaded shipping lane at the heart of the US-Iran conflict.

Nord – a 142-metre yacht worth over $US500 million ($697 million) – left a Dubai marina at around 1400 GMT on Friday (Saturday AEST), crossed the strait on Saturday morning and arrived in Muscat early on Sunday, according to data on the MarineTraffic platform.

It is not clear how the multi-deck pleasure vessel gained permission to use the route. Since February, Iran has severely restricted traffic through the strait, which typically handles around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

A representative of steel magnate Mordashov declined to comment on Monday.

Just a few, mainly merchant vessels have been passing daily through the crucial ‌waterway at the entrance to the Persian Gulf as Washington and Tehran maintain an uneasy ceasefire. This represents a fraction of the average 125 to 140 daily passages before the war began on February 28.

In a countermeasure, the US has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports.

Russia and Iran are longstanding allies and have become closer in recent years, including via a 2025 treaty that strengthened intelligence and security cooperation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin on Monday after discussions with mediators in Pakistan and Oman over the weekend.

Mordashov, known to be close to Putin, is not officially listed as the owner of Nord. But shipping data and Russian corporate records from 2025 show the vessel was registered to a Russian firm owned by his wife, Marina Mordashova, in 2022. This firm is registered in the Russian town of Cherepovets, where Mordashov’s steelmaker Severstal is also registered.

One of the largest yachts in the world, Nord has 20 staterooms, a swimming pool, a helipad and a submarine, according to industry publisher SuperYacht Times.

Mordashov was among a number of Russians sanctioned by the United States and the European Union after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for their links to Putin.

Russia’s fourth-richest person at the time, Mordashov’s extensive holdings in Europe – including the 65-metre super-yacht Lady M, with its swimming pool and beauty salon – were seemingly frozen by European authorities on February 28, 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine.

But that same day, Mordashov shifted control of a roughly $US1.1 billion stake in London-based mining company Nordgold to his wife. He also shifted arrangements for part of a $US1.5 billion stake in German holiday tour business TUI AG from a Cyprus entity to one in the British Virgin Islands.

Reuters with Bloomberg

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