Hormuz: Traffic flows despite Iran's closure announcement

PARIS, France — Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday continued to flow at a faster pace than before the agreement between Iran and the United States on talks to end the Middle East war, according to tracking firms, despite Tehran’s announcement of a renewed closure.

As of 1100 GMT on Monday, the Kpler maritime tracking platform had already recorded 15 transits by commodity ships.

This was comparable to Thursday and Saturday, when traffic approached 30 transits per day.

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At least five other ships, whose transit had not yet been confirmed by Kpler, also appeared to have passed through the strait, according to AIS signals published on the MarineTraffic platform.

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The Strait of Hormuz reopened last week after Iran and the United States reached an agreement aimed at ending the war in the Middle East.

But Tehran announced on Saturday that it had closed the strategic waterway again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

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Since then, Tehran and Washington have agreed on mechanisms to end the fighting in Lebanon and secure the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes.

Both agreed to establish a line of communication “to avoid incidents and miscommunication with the aim of safe passage for commercial vessels through the  Strait of Hormuz,” according to Qatari and Pakistani mediators.

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“Despite uncertainty surrounding the US–Iran talks, the Strait of Hormuz remained operational over the weekend,” Nikos Pothitakis, press officer at Kpler, wrote on X on Monday.

He added that some ships had resumed sailing with their transponders turned off. /mcm

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