Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – the vital shipping lane at the heart of the US-Iran conflict – is again plummeting as the ceasefire agreed on June 17 appears to have broken down.
Traffic had slowly been picking up, but after Iran struck three vessels near the Strait on July 7, the conflict has since escalated with the US resumed airstrikes on the country. On July 12, Iran declared the waterway closed and on the next day US President Donald Trump responded by insisting the Strait is still open, but added that he’s reinstating a blockade for Iranian ships and will charge any other ships for passage.
CNN is tracking the strait’s traffic volumes in maps and charts.
The conflict between the US and Iran has devolved into a “very determined fight over who controls the Strait of Hormuz,” said Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar.
Iran aims to control traffic by demanding ships use a route that goes through its territorial waters, while Oman and UN’s International Maritime Organization have proposed an alternative shipping lane hugging the Omani coastline.
Iran rejects this route and has repeatedly carried out attacks on ships using it, including as recently as Tuesday. A tanker has reported being hit by a missile while transiting the strait via the Oman route, the UK Maritime Trade Operations center said.
Since the US-imposed blockade was first lifted two weeks ago, Iran has exported roughly 80 million barrels of crude oil and refined products, worth more than $6 billion, according to an analysis by TankerTrackers, while other gulf countries have struggled to move their exports.
The US reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales on July 7, and is set to reinstate the naval blockade on Tuesday at 4 p.m ET.
Read more about how the conflict in the war in Iran is affecting global oil prices, and the price of gasoline in the US here:
—CNN’s Oliver Sherwood, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Zachary B. Wolf contributed to this report.
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