| Date | 20 Jun 2019 |
| Tracker | Strait of Hormuz Tensions |
| Type | Interception |
| Location |
Strait of Hormuz
26.18, 56.25 (approximate) |
On June 20, 2019, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a US Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk surveillance drone with a surface-to-air missile near the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command said the unmanned aircraft was in international airspace when hit, calling it an 'unprovoked attack'; Iran said the drone had violated its airspace near Kuh-e Mobarak and released coordinates supporting its account. No personnel were aboard. President Donald Trump said he came close to ordering retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets before calling them off, marking a sharp escalation after weeks of tanker attacks.
| Series | That day | Prior 30-day avg | Week after vs before |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transits | 77 -2% | 78.3 | +5% (557 → 586) |
| Tankers | 45 -6% | 47.9 | +5% (345 → 363) |
| Cargo ships | 32 +5% | 30.5 | +5% (212 → 223) |
| Date | Type | Incident |
|---|---|---|
| 12 May 2019 | Strike | Limpet mines damage four tankers off Fujairah, UAE, in suspected Iranian sabotage attack |
| 13 Jun 2019 | Strike | Front Altair and Kokuka Courageous tankers set ablaze in Gulf of Oman attacks blamed on Iran |
| 19 Jul 2019 | Interception | Iran seizes British tanker Stena Impero in Strait of Hormuz, retaliating for Gibraltar's Grace 1 seizure |
| 4 Jan 2021 | Interception | Iran seizes South Korean tanker Hankuk Chemi near the Strait of Hormuz |
IMF PortWatch data published on GMN's Strait of Hormuz tracker shows commercial ship transits averaging 3.17 a day over 1-6 September 2026, against 85.5 a day in 2025; other counters read higher, but every independent count is a small fraction of the pre-war norm.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on 8 September 2026 it had recovered a US Navy Anduril Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz; US Central Command said the vehicle had malfunctioned more than a day earlier, and Anduril confirmed the loss.
The United States decommissioned its four Bahrain-based Avenger-class mine hunters in September 2025 and shipped the hulls home in January 2026. When Iran began mining the Strait of Hormuz two months later, according to CENTCOM, the Navy had to sail two of its last four minesweepers from Japan.