Hormuz Traffic Plunges to Five Ships as Iran Reasserts Closure

After a brief rebound that lifted tanker crossings to 25 on June 18 and restored Persian Gulf flows to 7 million barrels per day, Iran re-closed the Strait of Hormuz on June 20 and traffic collapsed to just five vessels by June 21. The reversal strands roughly 500 ships and again threatens 20% of global oil trade. The move follows weeks of fragile diplomacy, U.S. escorts, and the first Saudi supertanker loadings since the conflict began, reviving supply-risk premiums after earlier hopes that a U.S.-Iran deal would normalize shipments.