Shipping Stalls in Strait of Hormuz After Iran Declares Waterway Shut

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped sharply after Iran said it had closed the waterway again. Iran cited Israeli strikes on Lebanon as the reason behind the move.

A Sharp Drop in Transits

Maritime intelligence firm Windward tracked just 12 vessels crossing the strait on Sunday. That figure fell from 35 transits the day before. Five of the eight ships entering the strait had switched off their tracking systems.

Windward described the current traffic pattern as resembling conditions from an earlier blockade period rather than a normal, open strait.

The slowdown reverses a recent recovery in traffic. Maritime data provider Kpler recorded 25 vessels transiting the strait on Thursday, the highest count since mid-April. That rebound followed a memorandum of understanding signed last Wednesday by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian aimed at ending the US-Israel war on Iran.

Iran's Closure Announcement and a US Denial

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the strait shut on Saturday. The group pointed to Israeli actions in Lebanon and accused the United States of failing to maintain a ceasefire there.

US Central Command disputed that account the same day. The command said safe passage through the strait remained intact, citing 55 merchant ship transits on Saturday alone. That figure conflicts sharply with the numbers reported by commercial tracking firms, and the reason for the gap remains unclear.

The Strait of Hormuz typically carries about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, making any disruption there a major concern for global energy markets.

Diplomatic Talks Continue in Switzerland

US and Iranian negotiators held high-stakes talks in Switzerland on Sunday. Both sides are trying to turn a 60-day ceasefire extension into a lasting peace agreement, even as the Lebanon conflict threatens to derail that effort.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters after the talks that the two sides discussed safe passage for ships through the strait. He said a new mechanism had been established to support that goal.

Markets Largely Shrug Off the Tension

Despite the renewed friction, oil prices actually moved lower on Monday morning in Asia. Brent crude fell about 0.9 percent to just below $80 a barrel.

Major Asian stock markets opened higher despite the shipping disruption. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 1.8 percent, while Seoul's Kospi rose 1.5 percent. Taiwan's Taiex jumped 2.6 percent, though Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.7 percent against the broader trend.