Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to almost nothing, with open transits dropping to near zero vessels a day since early May, as a dual blockade keeps one of the world’s most important shipping routes effectively closed.
US forces have redirected dozens of commercial ships and disabled four to prevent vessels from entering or leaving Iranian ports since the blockade began, the Pentagon has said, part of an enforcement campaign that has intensified through the spring.
Iran has imposed its own restrictions. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has issued warnings against passage, boarded and attacked merchant ships and laid sea mines, and has published a map of what it calls alternative routes that channel traffic through Iranian territorial waters past Larak Island.
The strait normally carries roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil. The International Energy Agency has estimated that crude and fuel flows through the corridor fell by about four million barrels a day in March and April.
The blockade dates to late February, when the United States and Israel launched an air war against Iran. The closure of the strait has since become a central obstacle in stalled negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
The disruption has kept global oil prices elevated and fed expectations of persistent inflation, complicating central-bank policy in major economies and weighing on growth forecasts for energy-importing nations.