00:00Initially, this ship is registered in the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific,
00:04but the KSL Heng Yang is one of the few cargo vessels that's managed to transit
00:09through the Strait of Hormuz without incident.
00:12How did it do it without coming under fire from Iran?
00:16Considering that the number of ships passing through the 212 km straight has dropped,
00:21from an average of over 130 a day before the war to just a handful of ships a day.
00:27Was the cargo ship just lucky?
00:30Or is there a diplomatic and financial aspect to its and others' safe passage?
00:35Why were they exempt from the threats of the regime?
00:38If vessels want to pass through the Strait,
00:41they need to know that our revolutionary guard and the army will set their ships on fire.
00:46At least nine vessels could be seen at the entry point of the Strait.
00:50Originally registered in nations like Panama, Liberia and Kuwait,
00:54all put forth ties to China in their identification records,
00:58be it ownership, destination or crew.
01:03It happens that the ownership or the destination is changed for that period of time.
01:10Or there are messages sent that it's a Chinese-owned vessel.
01:17The KLS Heng Yang is a prime example of such timely changes.
01:22Officially, it carries the flag of the Marshall Islands.
01:25But when it left Saudi Arabia on March 4th,
01:28its automatic identity and tracking system,
01:31which is sent out to surrounding vessels,
01:33said it was Chinese-owned with a Chinese crew.
01:36And that night, it passed safely through the Strait.
01:39International relations analysts believe a deal's been made between Beijing and Tehran.
01:46The compensation is that China supplies Iran with things the regime needs.
01:51For example, military infrastructure, intelligence, radars, etc.
01:58China is giving things to Iran and in exchange it gets petrol.
02:04According to the AFP, at least two Turkish ships have also gotten through
02:08by announcing that their crews are Muslim.
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