Iran strikes back after US hits Tehran as Hormuz traffic collapses
The US-Iran ceasefire reached on June 17 has fully unravelled. After US strikes on Tehran, Iran responded on July 9 with missiles and drones aimed at multiple Gulf states, extending an exchange that resumed in late June and that President Trump has said leaves the truce “over.”
The clearest measure of the damage is at sea. Al Jazeera reports that only about 513 ships transited the Strait of Hormuz in the 18 days after the memorandum was signed — roughly 28 a day, against a pre-war norm near 100. At least five commercial vessels have been struck since June 17, including tankers hit by drone and projectile fire in late June and early July, and an estimated 6,000 seafarers remain stranded in the Gulf. Iran continues to threaten closure of the strait and to dispute US authority over routing and transit fees; Washington rejects that Iran controls passage through the waterway.
The renewed fighting matters well beyond the region because roughly a fifth of the world’s oil moves through Hormuz. A sustained collapse in transits forces insurers, shippers and refiners to reroute or wait, feeding back into global fuel prices even without a formal closure. The July 9 strikes suggest neither side sees an off-ramp that the other will accept.