Seven ships cross Strait of Hormuz as Iran-US talks stall

LONDON: Around seven ships, mainly dry bulk vessels, crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, shipping data showed on Monday, as diplomatic talks between Iran and the United States have stalled.

The vessels included ships departing from Iraqi ports and one dry bulk vessel from an Iranian port, according to ship tracking data from Kpler and satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax.

Shipping traffic through the waterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.

The volume of shipping traffic through Hormuz on Monday was similar to previous days, shipping data showed.

Six tankers carrying around 10.5 million barrels of Iranian oil were turned around by US forces and returned through Hormuz to Iran in recent days, according to TankerTrackers.com analysis.

Around 4 million barrels of Iranian oil onboard tankers passed through the US blockade on April 24, TankerTrackers.com analysis showed.