Iran allowing more ships through Strait of Hormuz, data suggest

Number of ships transiting Strait of Hormuz has nearly doubled in recent days, maritime intelligence company says.

Iran is allowing a small but growing number of commercial ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, according to ship tracking data.

Eight vessels, not including ships flying the Iranian flag, were detected in the critical waterway via the vessels’ automatic identification systems on Monday, maritime intelligence company Windward said on Tuesday.

The number of transits was “nearly double” the numbers seen in recent days, according to Windward.

Michelle Wiese Bockmann, an analyst at Windward, said that a growing number of ships have been rerouting via Iran’s territorial waters, suggesting that Tehran is allowing “permission-based transits to friendly countries”.

“Western-affiliated vessels won’t voluntarily come into Iranian waters, but likely Chinese, Indian and others will,” Bockmann said in a post on X.