LONDON, April 21 - Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively stalled on Tuesday, with shipping data showing only three vessels passed the waterway in the previous 24 hours.
The reduced movement follows a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that has angered Tehran, prompting Iranian authorities to sustain restrictions on navigation through the strait. That waterway typically handled roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supply before the current disruptions.
Ship tracking information on the MarineTraffic platform showed the Ean Spir, a products tanker, transited the strait on Tuesday after a previous call at an Iraqi port. The Lianstar, a cargo ship, was also recorded sailing through the strait from an Iranian port, according to the same tracking data.
Satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax indicated that the Meda, a liquefied petroleum gas tanker, successfully crossed the strait on Monday on its second attempt to leave the Gulf after having turned back on an earlier departure attempt.
Those three transits represent a small fraction of the roughly 140 ships that used to pass through the strait on an average day before the outbreak of war between the U.S. and Israel on Iran on February 28.
There was a brief resurgence in traffic after Iran momentarily declared the passage open on Friday, when more than a dozen tankers moved through the strait. However, that respite appeared short-lived.
On Tuesday, prospects for a lasting ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran looked uncertain after Iran vowed to retaliate for the U.S. seizure of one of its vessels and indicated it would not participate in newly proposed peace talks.
Iran's army reported that an Iranian tanker entered its territorial waters from the Arabian Sea on Monday, aided by the Iranian Navy, despite what the army described as repeated warnings and threats from the U.S. naval task force operating in the area.
Context limits
The information in this report is based on ship tracking platforms and satellite analysis cited by maritime data providers and statements attributed to Iran's military. Where specific timing is provided, it reflects the relative days identified in those sources.