Some ships cross Hormuz despite security risks, data firm says

A small number of ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday despite heightened security threats linked to the confrontation between Tehran and Washington, according to maritime tracker Kpler.

Kpler data showed that 14 vessels crossed the strait on Sunday, half of them commercial ships. The figures suggest the waterway was not fully closed, despite Iran's announcement that it was. Kpler said at least three commodity vessels had crossed so far on Monday.

The source said traffic remains sharply disrupted by security risks after Iran attacked another ship on Saturday and exchanged strikes with the United States near the waterway. Sunday had the lowest daily number of transits since June 13, before a memorandum of understanding outlining a fragile truce between the United States and Iran briefly raised traffic through the strait.

Half of the vessels that crossed Sunday were Iran-flagged. Among non-Iranian traffic, only two ships crossed with their transponders switched on. One used the Iranian route, and another used the peacetime shipping corridor, which the International Maritime Organization has warned is currently unsafe because of the risk of sea mines.

Kpler said no ship over the weekend passed through the Omani route with its transponder switched on. Barun Gupta, an analyst at maritime intelligence provider Vanguard Tech, told AFP that a US-supported route in the southern part of the strait was still being used by some Vanguard Tech clients with US support.

Gupta said the United States could help vessels by shooting down projectiles or advising them on when to cross. He also said the risk remained high, especially for any vessel Iran viewed as US- or Israeli-linked, or any vessel moving without coordination with Iranian authorities or outside Iran-designated routes.

According to the IMO, four ships have been attacked so far in July. Iran said Monday it had fired warning shots at two ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also said Monday that he would charge all cargo shipped through Hormuz to pay for keeping the strait open and would reinstate a blockade on Iranian ships that had been lifted last month.