Shipping slows through Strait of Hormuz after tanker attacks

Updated 17 Aug, 2026 12:34pm 2 min read

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed over the weekend, data showed on Monday, following attacks ​on tankers, while US-Iran talks to resolve the Middle East ‌conflict stalled.

Five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, with none registered for Sunday, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, versus 31 in the prior weekend.

Ships ​entering the strait on Saturday included an empty Very Large ​Crude Carrier with its Automatic Identification System switched off ⁠and an Indian-flagged Very Large Gas Carrier that used the Iranian ​route, Kpler data showed.

A small tanker laden with Iranian fuel oil ​exited, it showed.

Shipping appeared to grind to a near standstill after the United Arab Emirates said three vessels operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were ​attacked in transit last week.

The United States said it could ​maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely.

Some ships may pass through undetected with transponders ‌off, ⁠but the figures are far from the more than 130 ships a day that traversed the Strait of Hormuz before the war launched by the US and Israel on Iran in February.

Washington must ​meet Iran’s conditions ​regarding the ⁠strait in order for shipping to resume, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with local media ​on Saturday.

The waterway handled a fifth of the world’s ​shipments ⁠of crude oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

At the Bab El Mandeb strait, where Yemeni Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi ⁠Arabia on ​July 20, Kpler data showed 49 ​weekend transits by commodity vessels, down from 55 in the prior week. There were ​no tracked Saudi oil shipments.

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