Strait of Hormuz Nears Navigational Paralysis After US and Iranian Strikes

Bloomberg

Thursday, July 9, 2026 11:58 AM | 2 minutes read

Navigation in the Strait of Hormuz came to a near-complete halt on Thursday, after the United States launched airstrikes on Iran for the second consecutive day, amid signs of increasing fragility of the truce between the two sides.

Ship tracking data showed that observed movements in the world's most important waterway for energy were largely concentrated along an Iran-approved route near the northern part of the strait, while the US-backed Omani corridor remained quiet.

Among large vessels, only a giant tanker under US sanctions heading out of the Arabian Gulf and an Iranian-flagged container ship were detected in the strait. However, the possibility remains that some ships may have passed with their transponders turned off.

Thu, 09 2026

This slowdown in ship traffic comes after a series of Iranian attacks on vessels, which prompted the United States to carry out airstrikes, coinciding with President Donald Trump's declaration that the ceasefire with Iran had ended. About 14 cargo ships crossed the strait in both directions on Wednesday, the lowest level since the interim peace agreement in mid-June.

That marks a sharp shift from the daily activity in the strait in recent weeks. In the three weeks following the interim agreement between the US and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the daily average of cargo ship passages was 34 vessels, peaking at 59 on June 24, according to data from Kepler. That compares with fewer than 20 ships per day during most of the war.

While LNG tanker traffic through the strait remained completely halted, two empty vessels recently entered the Gulf of Oman, heading toward the eastern entrance of the Strait of Hormuz.

Signs also emerged of a return of intermittent electronic jamming, after ships southeast of the Omani city of Lima in the Gulf of Oman appeared to be sailing at unusual speeds of at least 30 knots early Thursday. That could indicate the activation of defensive systems aimed at disrupting enemy drones and preventing them from attacking infrastructure, which may affect ships' transponder signals as well as the accuracy of navigation tracking data.