Key facts
- Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed significantly over the weekend following tanker attacks.
- Five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, down from 31 the previous weekend.
- The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of attacking three vessels operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
- U.S. President Donald Trump indicated higher gasoline prices may be necessary amid the conflict.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that Iran has not decided to resume talks with the U.S.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed considerably over the weekend, data revealed, following attacks on tankers. Five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, with none registered for Sunday, a sharp decline from 31 in the preceding weekend, according to shiptracking data from Kpler.
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. A small tanker laden with Iranian fuel oil exited the strait.
Shipping appeared to near a standstill after the United Arab Emirates reported that three vessels operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked in transit last week. The United States stated 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 U.S. and Israel on Iran in February. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated in an interview on Saturday that Washington must meet Iran's conditions regarding the strait for shipping to resume.
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, with no tracked Saudi oil shipments.