Hormuz shipping prospects remain uncertain

• Tanker reports fresh explosions in strait; US naval blockade remains in place• US imports of Middle East crude set to cross 0.6m barrels per day• Vance, Ghalibaf trade barbs over ‘messy negotiations’ WASHINGTON / TEH­RAN: Despite an understanding between Iran and Oman, fresh security incidents in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday highlighted the continued risks for regional shipping in the critical waterway. While the agreement would be a step towards reopening the key energy route, Iranian media stressed that any easing still hinged on Washington ending its own naval blockade of Iran’s ports. On Thursday, Centcom said it continued to enforce the naval blockade of Iran, redirecting 49 commercial vessels, disabling two, and boarding two.

Highlighting the risks to ships, the captain of an oil tanker reported hearing two explosions while transiting the strait, nine nautical miles southeast of Kumzar in Oman, Britain’s maritime security agency said on Wednesday. “The Master of a tanker has reported hearing two explosions whilst transiting in the Strait of Hormuz,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on X, adding that the crew and vessel were safe, and that no environmental damage was reported.

Oman is already facing an impending environmental catastrophe as an alleged Russian shadow fleet tanker leaks oil across hundreds of square kilometres near a nature reserve. Satellite imagery shows what appeared to be an oil slick spreading from a ship that has been stranded for over a month near al-Qibliyyah island, off Oman’s southern coast. It is far from the Strait of Hormuz, which has seen regular tanker attacks in the Middle East war. “With oil apparently continuing to leak and the vessel stranded in a difficult location, the risk of an even larger environmental disaster remains serious,” Nina Noelle of Greenpeace told AFP. She warned of a “severe and long-lasting” consequence. US imports cross 0.6m barrels per day US imports of Middle Eastern crude are set to hit about 600,000 barrels per day in August, the highest since the Iran war began, as a brief opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the rerouting of Saudi oil through the Suez Canal pushed barrels toward American ports, ship-tracking data showed. Nearly a dozen ships loaded with Middle Eastern crude were headed to US ports as American refiners and traders moved swiftly to snap up barrels that exited the strait when a memorandum of understanding signed by US and Iran in June helped release vessels from the maritime choke point. Also boosting imports are cargoes from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu that are traveling through the Suez Canal to the United States. Saudi Arabia has rerouted its crude output to Yanbu via its east-west pipeline to get around Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. However, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants last month launched a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, and the risk of attacks at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the southern end of the Red Sea has forced many tankers to head north and exit the shipping channel via the Suez Canal. That has increased exports from the region to the United States, as the journey to US ports from the Suez Canal is shorter than the route to Asia. Vessels exiting via the northern route can still sail to Asia, but the voyage would take nearly four weeks longer than typical and raise costs. ‘Theatre’ of negotiations Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance acknowledged American frustrations with the pace of diplomacy with Iran, saying negotiations would take time because of divisions within the country’s leadership. “It’s going to be messy and it’s going to take some time to get there,” Vance told Fox News in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. “The reality… is that number one, the Iranians are extraordinarily difficult people. Number two, they have a fractured system,” he said. On the other hand, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf assailed the US for using “bullying, broken promises [and] fake news as leverage” during negotiations. “‘Massive attack coming … wait, never mind, they want to negotiate,’” he writes on X, in an apparent jibe at Washington’s attitude throughout the peace process. “That’s theatre diplomacy on loop.” Calling the US approach a “failed strategy”, he urges Washington to acknowledge facts and fulfil its commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. “We don’t need more theatre,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2026