Iran Is Losing Its Grip As New Data Show Ships Thumbing Their Noses at Them in Strait of Hormuz

By Nick Arama | 11:50 AM on August 23, 2026

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*Strait of Hormuz. (Redit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC)*

The U.S. has been quietly helping ships get through the Strait of Hormuz since May.

While Iran has demanded that ships use its approved route to the north, it appears Iran has lost any grip it may have had on the Strait because traffic has reportedly increased by nearly 400 percent over the last two weeks.

How is that happening? The ships are increasingly using the U.S.- supported southern route and thumbing their noses at the Iranian regime's route.

Nearly 200 ships navigated the strait last week, up from 150 the previous week and just 40 two weeks earlier, according to data from the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center. [....]
More than 80% of liquid cargoes transiting the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks have either taken the Omani route — a US-backed, UN International Maritime Organization-authorized channel Iran rejects — or gone “dark,” likely slipping through the same corridor, according to maritime intelligence firm Kpler.
“It increasingly looks like Iran has at least partially lost control of the strait,” Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler, told CNN this week.

Using the Omani route, they can avoid any attempt by Iran to try to extort them for a toll. They've been hugging the coast of Oman and turning off their transponders, so it's harder to track or attack them.

About half were oil tankers; the rest were dry cargo. So that's also positive for the oil supply and the prices.

While the traffic is still lower than before the fighting, it's progressively increasing, and that's bad news for Iran as they lose any leverage they think they might have had and vessels decide they're going to ignore them.

Trump Announces 'Economic D-Day' Against Iran, Will Be 'Most Crushing' Financial Operation Ever

Add that to their dire economic situation, and that doesn't bode well for them.

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