Iran allowing more ships through Strait of Hormuz, data show

The number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz has nearly doubled in recent days, a maritime intelligence company says.Iran is allowing a small but growing number of commercial ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, according to ship tracking data.Eight vessels, not including ships flying the Iranian flag, were detected in the critical waterway via the vessels’ automatic identification systems on Monday, maritime intelligence company Windward said on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Larijani’s warning to US, Israel before his killinglist 2 of 4Israel killed Larijani hoping to ‘torpedo’ chance of US-Iran talkslist 3 of 4Families search for loved ones after deadly attack on Kabul hospitallist 4 of 4Pakistan ‘strongly’ rejects claim it struck Kabul hospitalend of listThe number of transits was “nearly double” the numbers seen in recent days, according to Windward.Michelle Wiese Bockmann, an analyst at Windward, said that a growing number of ships have been rerouting via Iran’s territorial waters, suggesting that Tehran is allowing “permission-based transits to friendly countries”.“Western-affiliated vessels won’t voluntarily come into Iranian waters, but likely Chinese, Indian and others will,” Bockmann said in a post on X.MarineTraffic, another ship tracking service, recorded nine transits on Monday and Sunday, compared with five over the previous two days.Traffic through the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil supplies, has plunged more than 95 percent since the start of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.Daily transits by non-Iranian ships, mostly Chinese, Indian and Pakistani-flagged vessels, have dropped into the single digits amid Iranian threats against shipping in the region.The effective halt of traffic through the waterway has sent oil prices surging above $100 per barrel, an increase of more than 40 percent compared with before the start of the war.