US-Iran war: Red Sea shipping traffic falls, Hormuz traffic remains low amid security concerns

US-Iran war: Ship traffic through Bab el-Mandeb fell on Sunday and transit through the Strait of Hormuz stayed low over the weekend, as per shipping data from Kpler. This followed attacks by Yemeni Houthis on Saudi oil installations along the Red Sea coast, despite a pause in strikes between the United States and Iran.

Eleven commodity vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday, the lowest level in months, said a report in Reuters. Fewer than 10 commodity vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz each day over the weekend. Red Sea traffic has been disrupted off the coast of Yemen since last week by the Tehran-aligned Houthis, who aim to blockade Saudi exports, widening the US-Iran conflict that has already affected oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz.

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Of the 11 vessels that passed through Bab el-Mandeb on Sunday, seven were oil tankers, with three entering the Red Sea. Two of these were very large crude carriers heading to the port of Yanbu to load Saudi crude, while the third was a Russian-linked ship.

The four vessels that exited the Red Sea on Sunday included the Hong Kong-flagged VLCC New Explorer, carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi and Emirati crude for eastern China's Ningbo port. Another tanker carried 1 million barrels of Russian crude for China, and a third tanker had about 750,000 barrels of Saudi crude on board for Pakistan. This was the third Chinese VLCC to exit the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Associated Maritime Hong Kong, the manager for the New Explorer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside office hours.

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Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.

In the Strait of Hormuz, seven vessels transited on Sunday, including three Iranian-linked oil products tankers that exited the strait. On Saturday, only three vessels passed through, all with their transponders switched off. These included a VLCC heading to Qatar to load oil, a liquefied petroleum gas tanker going to the Ruwais port in the United Arab Emirates to load cargo, and a tanker carrying Qatari naphtha heading to Japan. On Friday, seven vessels passed, mostly exiting the Gulf, including two VLCCs carrying crude from Iraq and the UAE and a tanker carrying fuel oil.

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The subdued traffic came despite the United States and Iran pausing strikes in the Middle East. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Iran would halt its own attacks as long as the United States did the same. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran's position "remains 'attack for attack': if the attacks stop, Iran will also halt its operations. That message has already been conveyed to the United States."

After 13 nights of intensifying U.S. air strikes on Iran, the Pentagon suspended the campaign late on Friday, with no US attacks reported on Saturday or Sunday. Iran, which had been following each night of US attacks with its own strikes on neighbouring countries hosting US bases, has also held fire for two days. The development followed President Donald Trump's advisers telling him they were running out of targets and raising concerns about depleting the US arsenal.