25 August 2026.

Situation

The Strait of Hormuz remains under severe operational stress. Lloyd's List reports a Greek-owned tanker was struck in the strait within the last nine hours; eKathimerini.com, citing the same incident, adds that crew are reported safe. The attack has not been attributed to any actor in the sourced reporting available at this time. Transit throughput continues to deteriorate: PortWatch's most recent published data, for 2026-08-16, recorded 1 vessel against a pre-crisis baseline of 73 per day, and gCaptain separately reports that Monday's commodity-vessel tally was the lowest since early May, with just two tankers entering the Gulf. Port arrivals across the Hormuz-area ports on both the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman sides totalled 824 in the most recent 24 hours, a distinct methodology from PortWatch transit counts and not directly comparable. Brent crude stood at $89.47, down 3.75% over 24 hours, as of 11:53 UTC. The site's Crisis Pressure composite holds in the extreme band, flat over the period, with physical transit deviation as its top contributor. The Escalation Forecast sits in the elevated band and is easing, driven by the Brent-WTI forward spread; the two indices diverge, signalling that near-term pressure remains acute even as the forward-looking composite softens. Iran has blacklisted 45 vessels over rules violations, per safety4sea, and the US Treasury has warned shipping companies of sanctions for dealings with Iranian entities, per an unverified single-source report from صوت الإمارات. Pakistan and Iran have reportedly made significant progress toward ending hostilities, per India Today, though that report is unverified and single-source.

Recorded