President Donald Trump said the US would reinstate its blockade of Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and demanded a 20 per cent reimbursement on all other cargo shipped through the waterway, as the number of tankers passing dropped to its lowest level in two months.
"The USA will be, from this point forward, known as 'the guardian of the Hormuz strait', but as such, and as a matter of fairness, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20 per cent on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the world," Mr Trump said on Monday on social media.
"The process and formation" of his plan would "begin immediately", he added. The White House did not immediately provide other details on Mr Trump's proposal, including how it would be administered or whether it had been communicated to US allies in the Gulf.
Shipping industry sources said an increasing number of vessels were switching off their public AIS tracking transponders, making it harder to determine the number of ships crossing the waterway.
Available data shows oil-and-gas tanker traffic fell to its lowest level since May 25, according to analysis from Kpler.
"Should the renewed escalation in the strait lead to another prolonged closure of Hormuz, the world will find itself in a much tougher spot," ship broker Gibson said in a report. "With global inventories rapidly depleted in recent months, this is a recipe for much tighter supply, higher prices and significant downside risk for tanker markets."
Simon Lockwood, head of shipowners for Marine Great Britain at Willis, told The National: "We have seen little appetite to transit inbound or outbound from the Strait of Hormuz since the uptick in hostilities. Notionally, rates to transit will have increased appreciably since this time last week but given a lack of real activity, these rates tend to be somewhat academic."
A representative of global insurance broker Gallagher told The National that the main concern was crew and ship safety. Insurance had "remained available throughout", the representative added.
Sea Faith, an oil products tanker, was among the few vessels visible on tracking systems, sailing towards the entrance of the strait near the Iranian side of the waterway, with a declared destination of Sohar in Oman, LSEG and MarineTraffic ship-tracking data indicated on Monday.
Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz "continued at reduced levels", the US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC) said in an advisory on Sunday, adding that "traffic patterns continued to reflect operator caution following recent attacks".
At least three pairs of tankers were involved in ship-to-ship transfers outside Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman, according to satellite imagery from July 11 reviewed by Reuters.
These transfers typically involve moving oil from one vessel to another. Since the conflict began on February 28, the practice has allowed faster deliveries of oil on to waiting ships that avoid sailing through the strait altogether.
"Some ships are slipping in and out," one shipping official said on Monday. "This has to be viewed as a managed conflict now, similar to the Houthis in the Red Sea," the source said, referring to the Yemeni militia that paralysed maritime traffic in the Bab Al Mandeb strait for nearly two years before agreeing to a ceasefire in 2026.
US forces completed another wave of strikes against Iran on Sunday, hitting dozens of targets across several locations with precision munitions, US Central Command said.
President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz remained open to commercial traffic, although Iran had earlier declared it closed after a vessel travelling on an unapproved route was struck.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday that its navy had stopped two ships in the strait overnight by shutting down their systems. The vessels involved were not identified.
A container ship was damaged by an unknown projectile that caused a fire in its engine room on Sunday, the JMIC said.
Six vessels transited the strait on Sunday, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, the lowest daily number in five weeks.
Among the tankers that exited the strait were the very large crude carrier Humanity, carrying two million barrels of Iranian oil, and the Capetan Andreas, carrying about 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti oil products, the data showed. Three empty tankers entered the Gulf to load oil. Most switched off their transponders while crossing the strait.
No liquefied natural gas tankers entering the strait at the weekend were visible on tracking data.
One tanker controlled by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company exited the strait between July 10 and July 12, Kpler data showed, heading for Dahej port in India.
Lemma Shehadi and Reuters contributed to this report.
