Hormuz traffic falls as Iran rejects Trump control claim

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to its lowest level in a week as Iran rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that the United States has “total control” of the vital waterway and said it will remain closed until Washington meets Tehran’s demands.

Only eight vessels were tracked passing through the strait on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing shipping data from Kpler. That was below the 10-day average of about 12 and far below the roughly 130 ships a day that passed through before the war began on Feb. 28. About one-fifth of the world’s oil supply normally moves through Hormuz.

Mohsen Rezaie, the newly appointed head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told China’s ambassador to Tehran that the strait would not reopen unless the United States changes course, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. “As long as America does not change its behaviour and does not accept Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened,” Rezaie said.

Trump, speaking to reporters Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews, said: “We totally control the Strait of Hormuz. We have control over it; nobody else, only us.”

Iran has said its conditions include the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets, compensation for attacks and an end to the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports. Rezaie also called on X for a region-wide ceasefire, including in Gaza and Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported.

The maritime tensions widened Tuesday when U.S. forces fired on a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. U.S. Central Command said a Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the M/V Vela Nova after the ship ignored warnings and allegedly tried to violate the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. The strike disabled the vessel’s steering gear, and the U.S. military reported no crew casualties.

Violence also hit another key passageway, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. Yemeni authorities said six people were killed in a Houthi attack on a cargo vessel there Tuesday. Al Jazeera reported that four crew members on the Egyptian-owned Tihamah and two Yemeni rescuers died, while 10 others were injured. The Iran-backed Houthis have not directly commented on the attack, though Houthi-affiliated media later said the ship was carrying Saudi military equipment.

Oil markets remained under pressure but were largely flat Wednesday after sharp increases earlier in the week. Brent crude rose 0.19% to $89.08 a barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude ticked up 0.4% to $83.53. U.S. gasoline prices edged 2 cents higher overnight to a national average of $4.04 per gallon, according to AAA, 16 cents higher than a month earlier.

“The renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran suggest that a long-term reduction in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is now the most likely scenario,” said Ben May, director of global macro research at Oxford Economics.

The International Energy Agency cut its oil demand forecast again Wednesday, saying high prices and the closure of Hormuz were weighing on consumption. The agency now expects demand to slump by 1.6 million barrels per day, compared with a projected decline of 1 million barrels in its July report. “The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and elevated fuel prices continue to weigh on oil consumption,” the Paris-based agency said.

Diplomatic efforts have continued but remain unsettled. A senior Iranian source told Reuters there had been no discussions about extending a U.S.-Iran ceasefire because, in Tehran’s view, no deal took effect. “There is no talk of an extension because, from Iran’s perspective, there is no period that began and therefore nothing to extend,” the source said.

Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, visited Tehran to discuss regional security and stability, Pakistan’s foreign office said. Iranian state media reported that he met President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni. Pakistan’s defense minister told Bloomberg that the U.S. and Iran were close to “some sort of an arrangement,” while Iran has said talks with Oman on managing Hormuz are in their final stages.