Shipping slows through Strait of Hormuz after tanker attacks, data shows

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed over the weekend, data showed on Monday, following attacks ​on tankers, as talks between the US and Iran stalled.

Five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, with none registered for Sunday, shiptracking data from Kpler showed. The prior weekend recorded 31 vessels.

Ships ​entering the strait on Saturday included an empty Very Large ​Crude Carrier with its Automatic Identification System switched off ⁠and an Indian-flagged Very Large Gas Carrier that used the Iranian ​route, Kpler data showed.

A small tanker carrying Iranian fuel oil ​exited, it showed.

Shipping appeared to grind to a near standstill after the United Arab Emirates said three vessels operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were ​attacked in transit last week.

The United States said it could ​maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely.

Some ships may pass through undetected with transponders ‌off, ⁠but the figures are far from the more than 130 ships a day that traversed the Strait of Hormuz before the war launched by the US and Israel on Iran in February.

Washington must ​meet Iran's conditions ​regarding the ⁠strait in order for shipping to resume, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with local media ​on Saturday.

The waterway handled a fifth of the world's ​shipments ⁠of crude oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

At the Bab el-Mandeb strait, where Yemeni Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi ⁠Arabia on ​July 20, Kpler data showed 49 ​weekend transits by commodity vessels, down from 55 in the prior week. There were ​no tracked Saudi oil shipments.

Iran says US forces expelled

Chief Commander of the Iranian Army Amir Hatami said on Sunday that US forces have been expelled from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and the Strait of Hormuz, and are prohibited from returning.

Hatami said US military bases in the region could by no means return to their previous state, and Iran will never allow such a situation to happen.

He also rebuked the US president for his recent remarks, saying Trump's backtracking after declaring the Strait of Hormuz part of American territory demonstrated his failure to come to terms with reality and his determination to project an image of victory despite setbacks.

Hatami's remarks came after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US military has the capability to maintain a naval presence in the region to enforce its retaliatory blockade of Iran.

"Indefinitely the United States Navy can maintain a blockade like that because we'll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we'll ​continue to," Hegseth told reporters during a trip to Panama.

(With input from agencies)