US Pressure Restores Oil Flows Through Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz has seen a significant increase in oil flows after months of US pressure against Iran.

Roughly 15 million barrels of Gulf oil are now leaving the region each day through the strait and alternative export routes, according to recent US government estimates. This is below prewar levels but represents a substantial recovery from the first months of the war.

The US has repeatedly struck Iranian coastal radar and surveillance sites, degrading the systems used to detect and target commercial shipping. Tankers have increasingly crossed Hormuz with reduced electronic visibility, including by switching off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders.

This matters because civilian ship-tracking services rely heavily on AIS signals. Vessels going dark can therefore disappear from commercial data, helping explain the striking gap between official US estimates and the much lower volumes visible to independent trackers.