Strait of Hormuz open or closed? IRGC claims clash with shipping figures amid fresh escalation in West Asia | Today’s news
Oil tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz slowed to near zero on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing shipping data and industry sources, as maritime security concerns intensified following renewed US airstrikes on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent retaliation in the Persian Gulf.
However, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said it had regained control of the Strait of Hormuz, restored security in the strategic waterway over the past two weeks, and is gradually resuming shipping along the route, according to the WANA news agency.
The data showed that only two tankers passed through the strategic waterway during the early hours of Thursday morning. One was the Berg 1, an oil supertanker that unloaded its cargo on Iran’s Kharg Island and is currently under US sanctions, according to maritime analytics firm Kpler.
The second vessel was the Marshall Islands-flagged chemical tanker Well Sail, which also passed through the strait. Kpler’s analysis, supported by LSEG ship tracking data, showed that the tanker had previously loaded cargo near Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
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Industry sources said a growing number of ships are turning off their public Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders when passing through the region, making it difficult to accurately track the movement of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, said in a report: “Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has essentially stopped, which tells you more about the perception of risk right now than any statement from Washington or Tehran.
What did the IRGC Navy say?
The IRGC Navy said shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had recovered to about 50 percent of pre-war levels, adding that efforts were continuing to increase traffic for vessels that comply with security regulations and have received permission from the force to use transit routes designated by the Islamic Republic.
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In a statement, the IRGC Navy also welcomed what it described as a “historic” funeral procession for the late leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and Iraq, saying the large public turnout showed that “the era of great power coercion is ending and this century belongs to the will of nations.”
The force further reaffirmed its position that “foreign powers have no place in this country or in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement said.
Iran attacks US military facilities, warns of ‘overwhelming response’
Iran’s armed forces launched airstrikes on US military installations in neighboring Gulf countries on Thursday, saying the attacks were in retaliation for recent US airstrikes on Iran’s southern coastal and eastern regions. The exchange further raised tensions and put further pressure on the fragile three-week-old ceasefire.
The latest escalation follows attacks on three tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, incidents the United States blames on Tehran.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy accused Washington on Thursday of disrupting the gradual resumption of navigation in the strategic waterway by carrying out strikes against Iran and interfering with maritime traffic. She warned that any further US involvement would provoke a “crushing response”.
Hormuz traffic
Before the conflict erupted on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, the Strait of Hormuz served as a key global energy corridor, handling nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies.
In the two weeks leading up to the latest escalation, daily shipping through the Strait of Hormuz rose to its highest level since the start of the conflict, with an average of around 40 ships passing through each day, a Reuters report noted, but the figure reportedly remained well below pre-war levels, when 125 to 140 vessels passed through the strategic waterway daily.
