The global positioning system (GPS) capabilities of cargo ships, oil tankers and other vessels stuck in the Middle East because of the widening war are likely worse than those in your cell phone.

Experts say this deficiency explains why since the start of US-Israeli strikes, the jamming of satellite navigation signals has left about 1,000 ships in the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman unable to determine their location, either momentarily or continuously.

Dimitris Ampatzidis, a senior risk and compliance analyst for the energy market intelligence firm Kpler, told AFP the number represents about half of the vessels in the area.

The vast majority of those ships are located off the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

A satellite navigation system is made up of a constellation of satellites that send signals with the time to Earth, allowing the receiver to determine its precise location.

Modern smartphones receive signals from four groups of satellites: the American, European (Galileo), Russian (GLONASS) and Chinese (BeiDou) Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).

Most cell phones now use two GPS frequency bands — one that is older and fainter, and a second that is newer and stronger.

But “many ships only listen to the original civilian GPS signal, which is called the L1 C/A signal. It’s the one that’s been around since the early 1990s for civilian use,” Todd Humphreys, an engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told AFP.

Most ships are thus unable to rely on the BeiDou or Galileo systems in the event that a GPS is jammed.

The situation is even worse for airplanes, due to aviation regulations.

“You will not find any aircraft flying in the world today whose built-in GPS receiver is capable of tracking and interpreting signals other than the GPS L1 C/A. So it´s out of date by 15 years,” Humphreys said.

Spoofing

Jamming a GPS signal is “not that complicated,” said Katherine Dunn, the author of an upcoming book of the history of GPS, “Little Blue Dot.”

All one needs is “another radio transmitter that can broadcast on the same frequency, but louder,” she said, which creates “a wall of mush.”

Spoofing is more sophisticated — and more dangerous, affecting a ship’s Automatic Identification System, or AIS.

Every vessel transmits a message per second over a universal radio frequency that announces its identity, destination and position.

Spoofing manipulates that system, causing the affected ship to send a fake, or even nonsensical, location — meaning that ships could appear to be on land in Iran or the Emirates.

Clocks

Today, GPS signals are not just used to determine location; they also power onboard clocks, radar systems and speed logs, Dunn said.

So even if the ships off the Emirates or Kuwait were protected from drone fire and escorted through the Strait of Hormuz, navigating without a GPS would be perilous.

“Given the size of the ships, electronic assistance has become necessary to steer them,” said one merchant marine captain who has sailed on cargo ships around the world.

Crews must “resort to using 20th-century instruments — radar or visible landmarks,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Defensive jamming

Signal jamming is undoubtedly being used both offensively and defensively. Gulf states are directing their systems towards their own shores to ward off Iran’s satellite-guided Shahed drones — at the cost, deemed acceptable, of disrupting their own lives.

Israel did the same thing in 2024, as did Iran after its 12 days of conflict with Israel last year.

“Even if their own air traffic or maritime traffic or their delivery drivers or their dating apps are affected by GPS jamming and spoofing, they’ll do it, just like Israel did. Israel did it for a year in 2024,” Humphreys said.

For air and sea navigation, start-ups are developing alternative technologies using Earth’s magnetic field or inertial navigation.

But for ships today, navigating without a GPS is still far in the future.

• Iran was warned of possible retaliation, sources say.
• Saudi foreign minister spoke to Iranian counterpart.
• Iran’s president apologises to Gulf states for ‘actions’.

Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that while it favours a diplomatic settlement to Iran’s conflict with the United States, continued attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The message was conveyed before a speech on Saturday in which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised to neighbouring Gulf states for Tehran’s actions — an apparent attempt to defuse regional anger over Iranian strikes that hit civilian targets.

Two days earlier, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and set out Riyadh’s position with clarity, the sources said.

Saudi Arabia is open to any form of mediation aimed at de‑escalation and a negotiated settlement, the sources quoted the minister as saying, underlining that neither Riyadh nor other Gulf states had let the US use their airspace or territory to launch airstrikes on Iran.

But Prince Faisal was also quoted by the sources as saying that if Iranian attacks persisted against Saudi territory or energy infrastructure, Saudi Arabia would be forced to permit US forces to use their bases there for military operations. Riyadh would retaliate if attacks on the kingdom’s critical energy facilities continued, he said.

The sources said the kingdom had remained in regular contact with Tehran through its ambassador since the US and Israeli military campaign against Iran began on February 28, following the collapse of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

Drone, missile attacks on Gulf States

The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have all come under heavy drone and missile fire from Iran over the past week.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed on the first day of the war. Tehran responded by hitting Israel and ‌Gulf Arab states hosting US military installations, and Israel has attacked Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group.

Araqchi said in an interview on Saturday that he remained in constant contact with his Saudi counterpart and other Saudi officials, adding that Riyadh had assured Tehran it was fully committed to not allowing its territory, waters or airspace to be used for attacks against Iran.

Pezeshkian said Iran’s temporary leadership council had approved suspending attacks on nearby countries – unless an attack on Iran came from those nations.

“I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” he said.

To what extent Pezeshkian’s remarks signal a change is unclear. There were further reports of strikes directed at Gulf states on Saturday.

Also, in a sign of possible divisions within Iran’s leadership, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters – the unified combatant command of the Iranian armed forces – said in a statement afterwards that US and Israeli bases and interests across the region would remain targets.

The command said Iran’s armed forces respected the sovereignty and interests of neighbouring states and had not taken action against them so far. But it said US and Israeli military bases and assets on land, at sea and in the air across the region would be treated as primary targets and face “powerful and heavy” strikes by Iran’s forces.

US President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Iran had “apologised and surrendered to its Middle East neighbours, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless US and Israeli attack.”

Two Iranian sources confirmed that a call had taken place in which Riyadh warned Tehran to halt attacks on Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Gulf states. Iran, they said, reiterated its position that the strikes were not aimed at Gulf countries themselves but at US interests and military bases hosted on their territory.

One Iranian source said that Tehran had, in response, demanded that US bases in the region be closed and that some Gulf states stop sharing intelligence with Washington that Iran believes is being used to carry out attacks against it.

Another Iranian source said some military commanders were pressing to continue the strikes, accusing the US of using bases in Gulf states and these countries’ airspace to conduct operations against Iran.

Iran had in recent years mended fences with its Gulf neighbours, including former regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia. The diplomatic campaign imploded in the blitz of drones and missiles launched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the past week.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued a significant statement aimed at easing regional tensions, assuring that Iran will not launch missile strikes or take aggressive action against neighbouring countries.

The president said the decision was taken with the approval of the Interim Leadership Council, stressing that Iran’s policy of non-aggression will remain in place as long as no attacks are carried out on Iranian territory.

Commitment to Peace

In a message shared on social media, Pezeshkian said Iran harbours no hostility toward regional countries and expressed regret over the recent tensions affecting neighbouring states.

“We harbor no hostility toward regional countries and apologize for the recent situation with our neighbors,” the president said.

Sovereignty Will Be Protected

While calling for peace, Pezeshkian also emphasized that Iran’s sovereignty and national security would not be compromised.

He added that diplomatic efforts and mediation aimed at ending the ongoing conflict should be led by the countries that initiated the confrontation.

Regional De-escalation Efforts

The statement comes amid rising tensions in the Middle East following military exchanges involving Iran, Israel, and the United States, prompting calls from several countries for de-escalation and dialogue to restore regional stability.