FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, 8 July 2026; Credit: REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The number of vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz ticked up on Tuesday 14 July 2026, with most of them linked to Iranian trade, before a US blockade took effect on Wednesday 15 July 2026, shipping data showed.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday reimposed a naval blockade of all Iranian ports and threatened to hit power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations, in the latest escalation of the US conflict with Iran.

Nine of the eleven vessels that passed through the strait on Tuesday sailed via the Iranian route, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed.

Of these, three empty oil tankers — one Aframax-sized vessel and two Very Large Crude Carriers — entered the strait, the data showed.

Vessels that exited the strait with Iranian exports included one VLCC carrying two million barrels of crude, a medium-range tanker with refined products, and two tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas, according to the data.

A laden methanol tanker and a dry bulk carrier carrying iron ore also made their way out of the Gulf on Tuesday, the data showed.

There were no visible entries or exits for tankers loading oil and gas from other Gulf producers on Tuesday.

Strikes between the US and Iran in the Middle East intensified this week, leading to a sharp slowdown in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments passed through each day before the war began in February.

The United States said late on Tuesday that Iran had attacked seven commercial ships over the past week, leaving nearly a dozen crew members dead, missing or injured.

Attacks on Emirati supertankers have caused Middle East spot crude prices to strengthen this week, with prompt-month prices now higher than those in future months, indicating tight supplies.

“The next phase of Gulf flow recovery could be slower than the initial phase even after geopolitical de-escalation,”Goldman Sachs said in a note on Wednesday.

The analysts pointed to a sharp drop in flows through Omani and international routes following the recent tanker attacks, saying it showed that “shippers using the non-Iranian Hormuz lane remain risk-averse.”