| Date | 13 Apr 2024 |
| Tracker | Strait of Hormuz Tensions |
| Type | Interception |
| Location |
Strait of Hormuz
26.18, 56.25 (approximate) |
On April 13, 2024, Iranian Revolutionary Guard commandos rappelled from a helicopter onto the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Aries as it transited near the Strait of Hormuz roughly 80 kilometers off the UAE coast, then diverted the vessel and its 25 crew members to Iranian waters. The ship, chartered by Mediterranean Shipping Company and linked to Zodiac Maritime, was described by Iran as Israeli-affiliated; Tehran cited unspecified maritime violations. The seizure came hours before Iran launched a large-scale drone and missile barrage at Israel. Crew members were gradually released over the following weeks.
| Series | That day | Prior 30-day avg | Week after vs before |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transits | 115 +11% | 103.6 | -17% (760 → 630) |
| Tankers | 74 +21% | 61.0 | -12% (445 → 391) |
| Cargo ships | 41 -4% | 42.7 | -24% (315 → 239) |
| Date | Type | Incident |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Apr 2023 | Interception | Iran seizes two tankers, Advantage Sweet and Niovi, within a week in the Strait of Hormuz area |
| 11 Jan 2024 | Interception | Iran seizes Marshall Islands-flagged tanker St Nikolas in the Gulf of Oman |
| 14 Nov 2025 | Interception | Iran's IRGC seizes Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Talara off Khor Fakkan |
| 28 Feb 2026 | Strike | US opening strikes destroy Iran's fleet at Bandar Abbas as Hormuz transits collapse |
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.