Hormuz Traffic at Near Standstill After Iran Attacks and US Strikes

Strait of Hormuz, July 9. A small number of ships moved through the waterway on Thursday morning. Most did not. The US-supported Omani corridor carried no observable traffic.

On July 8, 14 ships crossed the strait in both directions. That was the lowest daily count since the interim peace deal took hold in mid-June, when daily crossings averaged 34. At the peak, on June 24, 59 ships made the transit in a single day.

It came apart fast. Iran struck three ships on July 7: the Qatari LNG tanker Al Rekayyat, the Saudi crude tanker Wedyan, and a third ship. The US retaliated. CENTCOM said American forces hit roughly 80 Iranian military targets, including more than 60 IRGC patrol boats. Trump, at a press conference in Ankara, declared the ceasefire 'over.'

Then Iran fired eight missiles toward a base in Jordan that houses US forces. The Jordanian military said it intercepted them.

By that point, at least four ships had already turned back from attempted Hormuz transits.