Strait of Hormuz Tanker Traffic Slows After US Strikes on Iran

The US struck military targets in Iran on Friday after a drone attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The response is the first serious test of the interim ceasefire the two countries reached a week ago to end their months-long war and reopen the waterway.

US President Donald Trump said the drone attack violated the ceasefire. US Central Command said the military hit missile and drone launch sites and coastal radar stations in Iran. The strikes came about an hour after the command announced the operation on social media, a US official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.

Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament's national security commission, responded to Trump on social media earlier Friday. "The Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules," Azizi wrote. "This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management."

The British military said a container ship was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman on Thursday. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said no injuries were reported.

The attack came as the International Maritime Organisation was moving stranded ships out of the strait using an alternative route hugging the Omani coast. The IMO halted the evacuations after the attack and said they won't resume until there are guarantees the remaining ships won't be hit.

About 115 ships have moved out of the strait in recent days, leaving roughly 500 still in the area, said Arsenio Dominguez, the IMO's secretary-general. The alternative passage was expected to relieve pressure on global supply chains and remove Iran's main source of leverage in the peace talks.

Shipping analysts said the drone strike broke what had been a growing flow of trapped vessels leaving the Gulf and an increasing number of tankers carrying crude oil. Marine data company Windward said on X that "a week of widening commercial confidence in the Strait of Hormuz has hit its first significant test." The strait remains operationally open with 43 transits recorded after the incident, but "the pace of normalisation has slowed." On Wednesday, 78 vessels transited the strait, the highest since the war began but still well below the pre-war average of 130 or more per day.

At least two tankers reversed course while attempting to transit the UN-backed route near Oman after Iran insisted vessels use only Tehran-approved routes, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence. More than two dozen ships were still transiting the strait's southern route after the attack, Lloyd's said Friday.

The US and Iran are still negotiating the terms of a permanent deal, including how ships pass through the strait and what happens to Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The interim deal gives the two sides 60 days to work out the details.

Separately, ambassadors from Israel and Lebanon announced an agreement Friday described as a step toward peace after months of conflict between Israeli troops and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed.

For traders tracking the situation, the key question is whether the drone strike and US response are a one-off breach or the start of a broader breakdown in the ceasefire. The drop in daily transits from 78 to 43 is the first concrete data point suggesting the latter. If the IMO keeps its evacuation halt in place and more tankers reverse course, the pressure on oil prices and shipping costs will build quickly. If the strait returns to 70-plus transits within a week, the market will treat this as noise.