US-Iran Talks Deadlocked, Shipping Traffic in Strait of Hormuz Just Tens

ILLUSTRATION PHOTO/U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. Fifth Fleet

JAKARTA - Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has remained "sluggish" over the past week and has been declining towards the weekend.

This information was revealed by the maritime intelligence company Kpler on Monday, August 10, even as Iran and Oman hinted that an agreement on navigation in the vital waterway could be reached.

As reported by CNN, the number of confirmed crossings fell from 15 on Friday last week, to 11 on Saturday and six on Sunday.

About half of the journey took the northern route approved by Iran, while the route of the other 10 ships was uncertain.

Tehran has recently issued a list of demands that must be met by the US before Iran reopens the vital chokepoint, which is usually a route for one-fifth of the world's crude oil supply.

The demands include the lifting of a US naval blockade of Iranian ports, the withdrawal of military forces from around Iranian territory, and a permanent end to the war.

Meanwhile, traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at the southern tip of the Red Sea - another important maritime trade route - was "much more active, with 116 crossings during the same period," Kpler wrote on the X platform.

Daily traffic there is relatively stable, with 43, 37, and 36 vessels crossing the waters in the three-day period, despite growing concerns over attacks by Iran-backed Houthi groups on vessels in the region.