Since Sunday, only four ships have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in either direction, according to a marine tracking firm
A commercial
ship is seen off the coast of Dubai on April 20, 2026. Photo by AFP via
Getty Images
Traffic once
again seized up in the Strait of Hormuz as both Tehran and Washington imposed
separate blockades, with Iranian vessels continuing to test the U.S. shutdown,
tracking data showed Monday.
Iran
announced on Friday that it would reopen the strategic waterway, but the United
States did not reciprocate for vessels going to and from Iranian ports.
Dozens of
commercial vessels passed through the strait before Iran reclosed the passage
on Saturday, later warning that any approaching ship would be treated as a
target.
Since
Sunday, only four ships have made the crossing in either direction, according
to marine tracking firm Kpler.
One of
those, the Iranian-flagged Nova Crest that is sanctioned by the U.S., headed
out of the Gulf at around 0400 GMT on Monday, and continued to make its way
through the Gulf of Oman, according to Marine Traffic.
However, it
is usually when a vessel reaches the Iranian border with Pakistan that the U.S.
imposes its blockade.
Iran allowed
the sanctioned gas tanker Axon I to enter the Gulf on Monday, destined for the
UAE and therefore not subject to the U.S. blockade.
Gas tanker G
Summer crossed in the opposite direction on Sunday, having gone into the Gulf
earlier in the week, but did not appear to dock at an Iranian port.
It was last
detected close to the open sea near the Omani capital of Muscat.
The fourth
vessel to cross was the Panama-flagged Starway, owned by China-based firm
Hechuang International Group, according to Bloomberg.
The tanker
passed westwards through the Iran-approved route at around 0800 GMT on Monday,
but made a U-turn around 1200 GMT and was last detected heading back towards
the strait.
Since the
start of the blockade, U.S. forces have directed 27 vessels to turn around or
return to an Iranian port, the U.S. military said Monday.
The U.S.
appeared to have halted the progress of the sanctioned container ship Shamim on
Sunday, which was last detected close to the Iranian port of Chabahar.
Iranian-flagged
bulk carrier Artman was also redirected to Chabahar after apparently being
intercepted by the U.S. at around 2130 GMT Sunday.
LPG tanker
Raine, also sanctioned, was close to entering open seas on Sunday before
performing a U-turn and sailing back towards the strait.
While these
vessels seem to have heeded U.S. military demands to change course, President
Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Monday that the container ship
Touska was seized after failing to respond to a warning to stop.
Iran also
took action to impose its own closure, with New Delhi summoning the Iranian
ambassador on Saturday to lodge a protest over a “shooting incident” involving
two Indian-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
French-flagged
container ship CMA CGM Everglade also reported being hit by “an unknown
projectile which caused damage to some of the containers”, according to the
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
The brief
opening of the waterway had little effect on reducing the number of vessels
stuck in the Gulf.
Article
content
More than
750 commercial vessels transmitted signals from within the Gulf on Sunday, of
which around 350 were oil or gas tankers, according to tracking data collated
by Bloomberg.
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/israel-middle-east/us-iran-strait-of-hormuz-traffic-crippled-again