Iran warned of closing the Strait of Hormuz, maritime traffic drops sharply

Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has dropped sharply after Iran said it would once again close the waterway.

However, a small number of ships are still trying to pass through the route. Five ships were seen entering the Strait of Hormuz this morning, two days after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the channel would be closed because of Israel’s ongoing attacks in Lebanon.

Yesterday as well, five ships passed through, down from 26 observed a day earlier, according to ship-tracking data from the analytics firm Kpler.

However, the situation in the waterway remains uncertain, as US Centcom denied that the strait had been closed and said that 55 commercial ships had passed through on Saturday, a figure still well below the pre-war average of 130 ships.