Iran and its Houthi terror proxies have attacked at least 13 ships in the Middle East since the cease-fire with the US collapsed earlier this month.
Iran has attacked 11 ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz since the tit-for-tat strikes with the US began intensifying on July 6, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
The Islamic Republic’s disruption of the world’s oil supply then entered a new front overnight after the Yemeni-based Houthi rebels fired at two Saudi tankers off Riyadh’s southwest coast, threatening the Red Sea.
While the number of vessels attacked is a small fraction to the number of ships successfully transiting the waters, the deadly attacks are still enough to keep traffic to a near standstill and force ships to either accept Iran’s terms or extend their journeys at sea by weeks.
At least 386 ships have crossed the Strait of Hormuz from July 6 to July 22, with the vast majority of ships opting to either travel through Iran’s approved passage or employ shadow fleet tactics to sneak by, according to maritime tracker Kpler.
Only 13 vessels have used the US-backed Omani route, where Iran has attacked ships, since July 6, with no ship openly choosing the route on Wednesday, according to Kpler’s data.
Traffic along the strait has remained at around a dozen a day since the conflict reignited, with only 15 ships crossing on Wednesday.
In total, Iran has fired more than 30 attacks on commercial vessels since the war began, with at least 17 mariners killed in the strait, according to the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization.
Before the war began on Feb. 28, more than 130 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz every day transporting about 20% of the world’s oil supply.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing American blockade on Iran’s ports threatens more than 15 million barrels of oil a day, with only some 2 million barrels escaping daily.
The shock could be further exacerbated by the Houthi’s attacks near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which oversees about 7% of the global oil supply, including about 4 million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia, according to Kpler.
Traffic along the strait had remained steady in the past week with between 44 to 53 ships crossing every day, but traffic sank by about half on Thursday following the Houthi attack.
While ships carrying Saudi oil can still circumvent the passage by going through the Mediterranean and around Africa, the route would add millions in additional costs and extend the trips by roughly four weeks for large tankers, according to maritime trackers.
The complications have cost oil prices to surge past $100 per barrel on Thursday morning for the first time since May before dropping to $99.70.
Gas prices have continued to increase as well, with the average price per gallon in the US reaching $4.10 on Thursday, according to AAA.
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