Strait of Hormuz Latest Update: No merchant ships entered in the past 24 hours; all vessels are prohibited except Iranian ships

CryptoTimes App has learned that as the Middle East conflict enters its second week, the Strait of Hormuz has essentially been nearly completely closed, with almost all ships prohibited from passage except those related to Iran.

Earlier, Trump stated that the conflict with Iran would “end very soon.” Following this statement, the crude oil market experienced a sharp sell-off, with benchmark oil prices plunging over 10%. Although the decline narrowed on Tuesday, shipping companies remain extremely cautious due to direct threats to personnel and vessels’ safety.

Ship tracking data shows that in the past 24 hours, shipping entering the Persian Gulf has come to a complete halt. Only two bulk carriers and a few Iran-related ships, including a supertanker, a container ship, and a bulk carrier, were observed leaving the area.

Due to signal interference and ships turning off their transponders, it is currently difficult to monitor maritime traffic in real-time. The tracking data shows many anomalies in ship positions and speeds.

Ships leaving the Gulf often need to move away from high-risk areas before resuming accurate position signals. This means many ships are in stealth mode, with their movements only reappearing in satellite data days later. Similarly, ships entering conflict zones may also turn off their transponders, so historical navigation data may be updated later.

In the past 24 hours, no ships have been observed entering the Persian Gulf.

Although some ships have successfully passed through the strait, the main global shipping capacity remains trapped on both sides of the Gulf until the security situation improves. After Iran launched attacks on multiple commercial vessels in retaliation for U.S.-led sanctions, the passage through this route has been largely disrupted. Missile and drone attacks continue to pose deadly threats to all nearby ships.

Note: Since ships can turn off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) when far from the Strait of Hormuz, this monitoring covers large areas including the Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea, aggregating automatic positioning signals to identify ships potentially entering or leaving the Persian Gulf.

If suspicious vessels are detected, their signal history will be checked to verify whether their navigation routes are genuine or if false positioning is caused by electronic interference.

If ships do not turn their transponders back on, some voyages may not be monitored. Iran-related oil tankers typically turn off AIS signals after leaving the Persian Gulf and only restore them about ten days later upon reaching the Strait of Malacca. Other ships may also adopt similar concealment strategies, remaining undetected in tracking systems for several days.