Iran fires at two ships on the Strait of Hormuz as traffic sinks to lowest in 5 weeks

Iran’s military said it intercepted two ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz on Monday as traffic along the key trade route plummeted to its lowest point in five weeks.

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The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it fired “warning shots” at two ships, which it did not identify, trying to cross the strait by shutting down their tracking transponders, according to Iranian state media.

“This morning, two ships that were attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz illegally were targeted and stopped by warning shots fired by the navy of the Revolutionary Guards,” an Iranian state TV correspondent announced.

The Islamic Republic has stated that it maintains full control over the Strait of Hormuz, with its repeated attacks on cargo vessels triggering escalating attacks by the US.

The renewed fighting has sown uncertainty over the waterway, which oversees 20% of the world’s oil transport, with only 14 ships daring to cross the strait on Sunday, according to maritime data firm Kpler.

Among the ships that have managed to get out were a Very Large Crude Carrier filled with 2 million barrels of Iranian oil and a Kuwaiti tanker carrying 500,000 barrels of crude, the data showed.

Six of the ships opted to cross using Iran’s approved passage, with only a single vessel taking the route laid out by the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, according to Kpler.

The Iranian-flagged products tanker Niki was seen sailing to the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, but it remains unclear if it or any other vessel has crossed the waterway yet.

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Prior to the recent attacks between the US and Iran, dozens of ships were crossing the Strait of Hormuz every day with their transponders on, with traffic peaking at around 70 ships in late June.

But now traffic has plummeted, with ships back to turning off their tracking systems and employing shadow-fleet tactics to sneak through the waterway, as they did at the height of the war.

Half of the ships that crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday did so by turning off their systems and going dark, Kpler found.

The use of shadow fleet tactics is expected to increase after President Trump announced that the US would reimpose its blockade on Iranian ports, which is expected to cause traffic on the strait to sink again to only a handful of ships.

“Should the renewed escalation in the strait lead to another prolonged closure of Hormuz, the world will find itself in a much tougher spot,” ship broker Gibson said in a report.

“With global inventories rapidly depleted in recent months, this is a ​recipe for much tighter supply, higher prices and significant downside risk for tanker markets.”

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With Post wires