What Cargo Ships are Passing Hormuz Strait?

Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File
Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File
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What Cargo Ships are Passing Hormuz Strait?

Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File
Commercial vessels offshore in Dubai last week © - / AFP/File

Just a trickle of cargo ships and tankers -- most of them Iranian -- have made it through the Strait of Hormuz since Iranian forces blocked the crucial trade route in the Middle East war.

Here are facts and figures about vessels that have passed through the 167-kilometre (104-mile) long strait since the war broke out with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, according to AFP.

- 95% shipping drop -

From March 1 to 19, commodities carriers made just 114 crossings, according to analytics firm Kpler -- a decrease of 95 percent from peacetime.

Of these, 69 crossings were by oil tankers and more than half were loaded, Kpler data showed, with most travelling east out of the strait.

Traffic "is being led mostly by bulk carriers, tankers and container ships," said Richard Meade, editor of leading shipping intelligence journal Lloyd's List, in a briefing on Thursday.

"But we have seen a bit of an uptick in gas carriers moving over the last week."

- Iranian, Greek, Chinese ships -

Most of the ships passing the strait are owned or flagged in Iran, said Bridget Diakun, an analyst at data company Lloyd's List Intelligence.

After that, Greek ships accounted for 18 percent of crossings and Chinese ones 10 percent in recent days, she said.

"Although Iran is continuing to control the Strait and exit its own oil, everything else is largely still at a standstill," said Meade.

- 35 sanctioned ships -

Overall since the war started, around a third of the ships transiting the strait were under US, EU or UK sanctions, according to an AFP analysis of passage data.

Of the oil and gas tankers, more than half were under sanctions.

Since March 16 "anything heading westbound has been shadow fleet, gas carriers or tankers... they absolutely dominate the traffic going through," Diakun told the Lloyds briefing.

- Oil to China -

Commodities analysts at JPMorgan bank said in a report released Monday that most of the oil passing through the strait was headed for Asia, principally China.

Data in the report indicated it was receiving more than a million barrels day from Hormuz -- far below the pre-war level of nearly five million.

Cichen Shen, Asia Pacific editor at Lloyd's List, said there were indications online that Chinese authorities were working on "some sort of exit plan" for their big tankers stuck in the region.

- 1.3 mn barrels of Iran oil -

The JPMorgan analysts said overall 98 percent of the observable oil traffic through the strait was Iranian, averaging 1.3 million barrels a day "in early March".

A fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the strait in peacetime.

- Indian, Pakistani ships -

"There are indications that some ships are transiting under Iranian 'approval', with some vessels following a route through the Strait closer to the Iranian coastline than normal," including Indian and Pakistani vessels, marine consultancy Clarksons said in a note.

Meade of Lloyds List added: "Several governments, including China, but (also) India, Pakistan, Iraq, Malaysia, they're all in direct talks with Tehran, coordinating vessel transits" with Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

- Alternative routes surge -

Shipping companies are carving out other ways to get their cargos through the region. Major shipping firm CMA CGM said it was moving freight across Gulf countries by rail and road to avoid the strait.

"Gulf maritime traffic patterns indicate early signs of global rebalancing," said marine intelligence group Windward in a report.

In recent days transit volumes through the Bab el-Mandeb strait off east Africa surged 280 percent, and 70 percent through the Suez Canal, it said, indicating that "shipping is adapting through alternative corridors."



South Korea Demands Ukraine Apology Over Denial of Confidential Deal on North's POWs

 South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
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South Korea Demands Ukraine Apology Over Denial of Confidential Deal on North's POWs

 South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool)

South Korea's presidential office has demanded an apology from Ukraine for denying an agreement to keep the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul confidential.

The incident came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations that his country had sent two North Korean soldiers to the South, adding they were "not easy to capture alive".

Hours later, South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung said on X, "I do not know why the Ukrainian side broke the agreement and made the matter public, but it is very disappointing."

As a response to this, Zelensky's aide Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists that Ukraine was "an open country" and that it would have been strange to hand over the soldiers in secret.

"From the entire story -- which is long and detailed -- we reported only the fact itself, that they were sent to the Republic of Korea," he said.

"It is in itself a very serious matter that the Ukrainian side violated the confidentiality agreement between the two countries and made the disclosure unilaterally," Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement late Sunday.

"But the Ukrainian presidential press office's false statement that there had been no confidentiality agreement... seriously undermines trust between the two governments and gravely damages friendly relations between the two countries," he said.

The South Korean Presidential office demands "an official explanation and apology," said Seong.

The South Korean presidential office is "considering additional measures that may be necessary regarding this matter," he added, but did not specify what they were.

Early last year, Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers among Pyongyang's troops fighting for Moscow.

A South Korean lawmaker had previously said the pair wanted to live a "normal life" in the South.

Under South Korea's constitution, all Koreans, including those living in the North, are considered citizens, and officials have said this would apply to any North Korean troops captured in Ukraine.


Trump Expects New Iran Talks Despite Rejecting Deal Offer

Iranian missiles are displayed on a street in Tehran, Iran, September 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranian missiles are displayed on a street in Tehran, Iran, September 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Trump Expects New Iran Talks Despite Rejecting Deal Offer

Iranian missiles are displayed on a street in Tehran, Iran, September 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranian missiles are displayed on a street in Tehran, Iran, September 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, despite his rejection of a truce proposal put forward by Tehran.

Iranian officials brought with them to the UN General Assembly in New York a plan for a seven-day truce followed by the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel.

Trump dismissed the plan and has mused on resuming full-scale air strikes on Iranian targets, but he told the news platform Axios that he expects negotiations to resume.

"They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make," Trump told Axios. "It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago."

"They overplayed their hand," Trump said, in the interview published Sunday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Axios reported that indirect talks between Washington and Tehran could take place as early as Monday.

On Sunday, Iran was still standing by its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, leaving the Gulf front of the Middle East war locked in a stalemate, while fighting rages in Yemen.

- 'We will not back down' -

Hormuz is a key chokepoint for the world's energy supplies and is now central to the conflict between Washington and Tehran, which was started nearly seven months ago when the US and Israel launched a wave of strikes against Iran.

Iran's plan called for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and a return to the conditions in an earlier ceasefire deal that fell apart.

That agreement, which collapsed during fighting over Hormuz, called for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade.

"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent upon these conditions being fulfilled. We will not back down from them," Araghchi said on Sunday, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

"We have never closed the door to diplomacy or negotiations, but at the same time, we have never backed down from our rights."

Washington's ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, accused Tehran of demanding too much in exchange for a return to the negotiating table.

"This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable. To ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions and access to billions in assets, just to talk," he told NBC News in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"I think it's kind of common sense that the president doesn't have a lot of confidence this time after we just tried a few months ago."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards meanwhile said that they seized an American submersible drone on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz.

It said the underwater vehicle was being used "for espionage purposes", adding that it was "now in the hands of the force's specialists for data recovery".

- 'Tool for pressure' -

Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in June aimed at ending the war, reopening the strait and launching talks on Iran's nuclear program.

But the deal broke down shortly afterwards when Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its approved route through the waterway.

Iran requires ships to obtain authorization before passage, citing security and sovereignty reasons.

Ships that refuse to comply are regularly targeted, while the United States sporadically bombs Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.

Araghchi said at the UN that Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan, adding: "The choice now rests with the United States."

Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying: "We will not cease punishing the US until Iran's seven conditions are met."

Mohebi had told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that ending hostilities in Yemen was also among Tehran's demands.


Iran Insists on Diplomatic Solution after Trump Rejects Peace Plan

Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Iran Insists on Diplomatic Solution after Trump Rejects Peace Plan

Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Iran on Sunday insisted that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting.

"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media. "Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock."

Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump said on Saturday he rejected the plan and argued that desperation was driving the Iranians’ push for an agreement on the key waterway.

"They want to make a deal to open ‌the Hormuz Strait immediately ‌because they're losing so badly," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Despite Trump's public ‌statements, ⁠mediators facilitating Iran's talks ⁠with the United States have not officially relayed a US rejection of the plan, according to Araghchi.

"We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them," Araghchi posted.

The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to stop Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have drastically reduced shipping through the area even as Trump repeatedly asserts that the US controls the waterway.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed US officials.

It said Trump was privately skeptical that Iran ⁠would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign ‌as likely after the November US midterm elections.

A US official had said ‌earlier that discussions with Iran through mediators were "positive and constructive".

CONFLICT HAS DISRUPTED OIL FLOWS, HARMED GLOBAL ECONOMY

Araghchi told reporters at the United Nations on Friday the proposed deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.

"If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared," Araghchi said. If the US were to agree, ‌the warring parties could start wider talks "on mutually agreed subjects."

That could potentially include discussions of Iran's nuclear program. Trump has said Tehran must never acquire a nuclear bomb, while ⁠a senior Iranian official ⁠told Reuters that Iran would show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the US accepted its peace deal.

Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of the country, the official said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with the CBS show "Face the Nation", said Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear program and other issues, but would not accept "bullying or coercion".

"Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that it had already agreed that "we're not supposed to develop nuclear weapons".

Previous attempts at diplomacy have failed to end the war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks.

Since then the war has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands while degrading the conventional forces of Iran and damaging its already ailing economy.